This Google Home update improves Gemini's voice assistant and simplifies AI descriptions

What you need to know

• Experiencing Gemini for Home unreliability? The latest round of Google Home updates improve Gemini's voice assistant to be more accurate and helpful.
• AI-powered descriptions now skip generic motion-based events to clear up Google Home users' notification feeds.
• Home Brief summaries now have a shorter average word count to make them more digestible.

With the Gemini for Home rollout underway, Google is making a series of Google Home changes to improve Gemini's usefulness following user feedback. Gemini for Home started to become available in early October, replacing Assistant in the Home app and on Google's smart speakers and displays released after 2016. However, there have been a few bumps in the road, with many users left without access and some finding Gemini to be less helpful than the Google Assistant it replaces.

The latest round of Google Home updates, which released Nov. 24, improves the Gemini voice assistant and the AI-powered features in the Google Home app (via 9to5Google). The release notes specifically address Gemini's ability to handle media and general answers, plus Gemini Live functionality for Google Home Premium subscribers.

The updates fix a bug that caused Gemini to incorrectly state "I couldn’t find any recent news" in response to some requests. Additionally, the voice assistant will now correctly tell users to link an account when they ask to play media that requires one. It also addresses an issue that caused Gemini to ignore YouTube Music when set as the default podcast provider.

For general requests, Google says Gemini for Home will offer "improved response reliability when asking follow-up questions." It also fixed a problem that caused Gemini to display the wrong temperature unit on Google Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max smart displays.

Google is also tweaking how Gemini handles AI summaries, including camera event descriptions and Home Brief recaps. Generic motion-only events will not cause Gemini for Home to generate a description with AI in an effort to declutter a user's feed.

"Based on your feedback, we have refined our AI descriptions to prioritize key events like People, Animals, Packages, Vehicle, and more," Google explains. "As a result, for all new videos, Gemini for Home will skip generating AI descriptions for generic motion-only events, giving you a clearer timeline."

Additionally, the company lowered the average Home Brief response word count, "making it quicker to scan and read, without losing important details."

These updates are rolling out for Gemini for Home users now. Google continues to ask users to send feedback when Gemini doesn't work as expected by asking a smart speaker or display, "Hey Google, send feedback." Your feedback could influence future Gemini for Home updates, like this one.