Google’s Gemini now available as an app for Android smartphone users in India

PTI, Jun 18, 2024, 12:00 PM IST

Google on Tuesday said its AI assistant Gemini is now available as an app for Android smartphone users in India with support for English, Hindi and eight other Indian languages.

For iPhone users, access to Gemini will be rolled out through the Google app over the next few weeks, according to a blog post by Amar Subramanya, Vice President, Engineering, Gemini Experiences.

“Gemini, your AI assistant from Google, has had an exciting first year in India… From students to developers and many other curious minds, people in India are embracing Gemini’s capabilities to enhance their productivity, learning, and creativity in everyday life,” Subramanya wrote.

Additionally, users of Gemini Advanced in India will now be able to access features of Gemini 1.5 Pro, Google’s latest next-gen AI (Artificial Intellegence) model.

The expanded capacity of Gemini Advanced will allow users to upload multiple large documents and emails for quick summaries, feedback, and actionable insights.

“As always, privacy is a top priority. Gemini keeps your files private to you, and they’re not used to train our models,” Subramanya added.

Google said the Gemini feature will also be added in Google Messages on select devices.

The generative AI platform faced controversies earlier this year, over its “fascist Modi” responses, and anti-white bias.

In February this year, a journalist had shared a screenshot in which a question was asked to Gemini about Modi. In response, Gemini made uncharitable comments about him but was circumspect when the same query was posed about Trump and Zelenskyy.

Google had then said it worked quickly to address the issue and conceded that the chatbot “may not always be reliable” in responding to certain prompts related to current events and political topics.

The erstwhile minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had warned Google that the people of India “are not to be experimented on” with unreliable platforms and algorithms and “ensuring safety and trust are legal obligation of platforms”.

The former Union minister in a latest post on social media platform X on Monday said, “LLMs “bullshit content” comes from most models being trained on content/ datasets that are – to politely use the phrase – NOT quality assured. That’s why you have the embarrassing sight of billion-dollar Gemini/ChatGPT on many occasions spewing nonsense. Garbage in, Garbage out is an old adage in programming especially if ur depending on scraping the internet.