Google Gemini is coming to a TV near you… eventually. The AI agent’s TV debut kicks off with the TCL QM9K today. The search giant hopes its AI assistant can help users sift through the endless sea of TV shows each service offers up. The feature is coming to a couple more devices this year, but the search giant has not mentioned anything about when users can expect the update to reach the average Android TV.
Google drops gems, but only if you ask it to
Everything you’re used to doing with Google Assistant, you’re now able to do with your TV, at least adding the convenience of not looking at your phone every time you want to make a quick inquiry. Gemini on Google TV works as it always has; users just trigger the AI agent with a simple button tap or “Hey Google,” and ask away.
The company’s marketing is focusing on Gemini’s ability to recommend shows to watch, which, if it works as advertised, can mitigate the vertigo of endless doomscrolling on streaming apps, one of many reasons people are beginning to sour on streaming as a whole. The only hard bit there is getting it to work as advertised.
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The AI agent arrives first on TCL’s QM9K mini-LED TV, though the search company says it’s coming to more devices later this year. It’s too bad South Africa will miss out on the first, but it won’t be long before we get our shot with the likes of the Google TV Streamer, Hisense U7, U8, and UX, as well as TCL’s QM7K, QM8K, and X11K TVs, all of which will get the Gemini update before long.
Google won’t be the last to infect your TV with a whole host of AI-powered capabilities, with LG and Samsung working to do exactly this, but with the help of Microsoft’s Copilot AI. The search giant reckons there will be more features added in due course, though it’s still mum about what those could be, exactly.
