Gemini, also known as Google Gemini (formerly known as Bard), is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot and virtual assistant developed by Google. It is powered by the family of large language models (LLMs) of the same name, after previously being based on LaMDA and PaLM 2. The Gemini architecture is trained natively on multiple data types, allowing the models to process and generate text, computer code, images, audio, and video simultaneously. Google distributes the technology in varying capacities, ranging from efficient on-device versions ("Nano") and cost-effective, high-throughput variants ("Flash") to high-compute models designed for complex reasoning ("Pro" and "Ultra"). The 1.5 and 3 model generations introduced extended context windows, enabling the analysis of large datasets such as entire codebases, long-form videos, or extensive document archives in a single prompt. Gemini was first announced on December 6, 2023, and replaced existing Google branding for AI services. In February 2024, the Bard chatbot was renamed Gemini, and the "Duet AI" branding for Google Cloud and Workspace was retired in favor of the Gemini identifier. The models integrate into the Google ecosystem through the Gemini mobile app, which functions as an overlay assistant on Android devices, and through the Vertex AI platform for third-party developers. The release of Gemini has generated technical praise and public controversy. Commentators have highlighted the models' benchmarks in coding and retrieval tasks as competitive with OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-5. However, the product launch faced criticism regarding the reliability of its outputs. In early 2024, Google suspended the model's ability to generate images of people after users reported historical inaccuracies and bias in its depictions of human subjects. Subsequent updates, including the Gemini 1.5 and 3 series released throughout 2025, focused on reducing hallucinations, improving latency, and enhancing agentic capabilities for autonomous research and software development.
History
Background
In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot based on the GPT-3 family of large language models (LLMs). ChatGPT gained worldwide attention, becoming a viral Internet sensation. Alarmed by ChatGPT's potential threat to Google Search, Google executives issued a "code red" alert, reassigning several teams to assist in the company's artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, was widely reported to have issued the alert, but Pichai later denied this to The New York Times. In a rare move, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who had stepped down from their roles as co-CEOs of Alphabet in 2019, attended emergency meetings with company executives to discuss Google's response to ChatGPT. Brin requested access to Google's code in February 2023, for the first time in years. Google had unveiled LaMDA, a prototype LLM, earlier in 2021, but it was not released to the public. When asked by employees at an all-hands meeting whether LaMDA was a missed opportunity for Google to compete with ChatGPT, Pichai and Google AI chief Jeff Dean said that while the company's chatbot had similar capabilities to ChatGPT, there were risks to introducing an LLM that might spread false information, so they decided to wait. In January 2023, Google Brain's sister company DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis hinted at plans for a ChatGPT rival, and Google employees were instructed to accelerate progress on a ChatGPT competitor, intensively testing "Apprentice Bard" and other chatbots. Pichai assured investors during Google's quarterly earnings investor call in February that the company had plans to expand LaMDA's availability and applications.
Bard
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