Google's Gemini AI Assistant Gains Utilities Extension With Ability to Control Smartphone Tasks

Google's Gemini AI assistant has finally been updated with a Utilities extension that allows it to control various tasks on a user's smartphone. The Mountain View-based tech giant first announced this extension at its Google I/O event earlier this year. Utilities extension will let the Gemini AI assistant on Android devices control first-party apps and tasks such as alarm, timer, volume control, and camera. The extension has been spotted on some devices, however, a full rollout might take several weeks.

Gemini Must Be Set as Default Assistant to Use Utilities Extension 

The Utilities extension is available via the Gemini app for Android. However, since the feature works via the smartphone's virtual assistant, users will need to ensure that Gemini is set as the default assistant for the device. Additionally, the feature currently works with prompts in the English language, so commands given in other languages are not currently supported.

This extension solves a major pain point in the Gemini AI assistant, which was that it could not perform device-related tasks such as setting an alarm and timer or opening the camera. So far, Google's fix was either using app-specific extensions or activating Google Assistant to perform the tasks. However, these workarounds took away from the overall experience of using the virtual assistant.

Gemini Utilities extension

At Google I/O, the tech giant announced that the extension will allow Gemini to perform multiple tasks with a single natural language prompt. For instance, users can ask it to set an alarm, turn on the DND mode, and open a website.

Gadgets 360 staff members were able to see and activate this extension. With this, the AI assistant can manage tasks such as setting and silencing alarms, setting and stopping timers, turning on or off the flashlight, Bluetooth, DND and Battery Saver mode, checking the device's volume and battery level, turning off the device or restarting, and more. Some of these tasks can also be performed on the lock screen.

The Utilities extension will also let Gemini open the Camera app and click a picture or capture a screenshot. The AI assistant can also control media playback on a media player app and perform tasks such as pause and play functions as well as moving to the previous or the next media.