Over the past few years, Google—like much of Silicon Valley—has maintained a laser focus on advancing its AI capabilities and integrating them deeply into its existing ecosystem. The company has already embedded its Gemini AI into key apps like Gmail and Google Photos, and plans are underway to fully replace Google Assistant with a more advanced AI-powered voice assistant by the end of the year.
Recent rumors hinted that Gemini might soon make its way to smartwatches, and now those whispers have been confirmed. During Alphabet’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Sundar Pichai stated, “We’re upgrading Google Assistant on mobile devices to Gemini, and later this year we’ll upgrade tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches.” While Wear OS may not be the most sophisticated smartwatch platform out there, it remains the go-to operating system for premium devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch and the OnePlus Watch.
The announcement is a promising step forward, but it raises a couple of important questions. First, what exactly does “later this year” mean? Will we see more details at Google I/O in May, or will the rollout coincide with the next Pixel Watch launch in the latter half of the year? For now, Google hasn’t clarified.
Second, there’s the issue of hardware limitations. Smartwatches typically don’t have the processing power or storage to run large language models natively. So, how much of your personal health and activity data would you be comfortable sharing with a cloud-based AI assistant—especially one that may use that data to improve its training? And while Google promises an upgrade over Google Assistant, it’s unclear what form that will take or which Gemini models will be used. On Android, the Gemini app currently offers users a choice between various models, from the lighter 2.0 Flash to the cutting-edge 2.5 Pro and experimental 2.5 Flash.
