Google wants to take research out of your hands with Gemini

Researching a topic can be a time-intensive endeavor, but what if you could get AI to do most of it instead? That’s exactly what Google has announced for Gemini.

Google announced Research with Gemini at its Made By Google event today (August 13) alongside the Pixel 9 series, and it promises to take most of the legwork out of conducting research online.

Google senior vice-president Rick Osterloh gave the example of asking Gemini to research “grad school scholarship programs for undergrads interested in public service.” He also asked Gemini to research what he needed to do to open a sidewalk cafe in Seattle.

Gemini will subsequently create a research plan. From here, it “curates” pages from across the web, including “sub-pages and dropdown menus.”

“It then synthesizes all that information into a well-organized research report in a Google doc,” Osterloh explained, complete with links to source pages. He added that in the case of the sidewalk cafe query, Gemini looked into the relevant permits and outdoor seating too.

This all sounds fairly in-depth for an AI service, but we’re keen to see how deep this actually is compared to conventional AI assistants like the standard Gemini or ChatGPT. Otherwise, the only real benefit might be that you’re looking at a well-presented Google document.

Google added that Research with Gemini will be available to Gemini Advanced subscribers in the “coming months.” The company’s text disclaimer adds that it will be available on select devices and in select languages. Your guess is as good as ours.

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