Google extends Gemini Android app to India with support for 9 Indian languages

Google has positioned Gemini as the main brand for all its existing and future AI efforts.

Google is extending the Gemini Android app to India with support for nine Indian languages, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, besides English, the tech giant said on June 18.

The company is also making more features available to users of Gemini Advanced, the paid version of its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Gemini.

This move comes nearly four months after Google rebranded its AI chatbot Bard as Gemini a year after its inception. Google has positioned Gemini as the main brand for all its existing and future AI efforts.

The launch also comes after India concluded its 2024 general elections. Google had earlier rolled out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will respond, Moneycontrol reported in March.

Apart from India, Gemini app has also been launched in Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The app allows users to type, talk or and add an image to complete various tasks on the go. For instance, one can take a picture of a flat tire for instructions on how to change it, or get help writing a birthday party invitation.

Gemini Android app now supports nine Indian languages

"This marks a significant step forward in our journey to build a truly conversational, multimodal, and helpful AI assistant," the firm said in a blogpost.

On Android, users can also opt to make Gemini the primary assistant on their smartphone, following which they will be able to access Gemini anywhere else they normally activate Google Assistant, either by pressing the power button, corner swiping on select phones, or saying the “Hey Google” wake word.

Google said many voice features available in Google Assistant will be available through the Gemini app, including setting timers, making calls and setting reminders and the company is working to support more functionality in the future. This indicates that Gemini will eventually replace the existing Google Assistant.

On iOS, users will be able to access Gemini directly from the Google app over the next few weeks.

More Gemini Advanced features rolled out in India

Gemini's paid tier Gemini Advanced, which is powered by the company's most advanced model Gemini 1.5 Pro, will also be available in nine Indian languages.

Gemini Advanced currently features a massive 1 million token context window, allowing it to process and understand vast amounts of information, from lengthy documents (up to 1,500 pages) and emails to hours of video and extensive codebases in the near future.

One can also tackle complex data analysis tasks by uploading their spreadsheets (Google Sheets, CSVs, Excel). The company said Gemini Advanced can clean, explore, analyse, and visualise their data, transforming it into interactive charts and graphs. That said, Google notes that these files will not be used to train their models.

Gemini Advanced is available to users as part of the newly launched Google One AI Premium Plan that will be available at Rs 1,950 per month with an initial two-month free trial.