Google’s Gemini Ultra AI has been released

For $20/month, you get access to the generative AI that outperformed GPT-4.
Subscribe to Freethink on Substack for free
Get our favorite new stories right to your inbox every week

Google just made its most capable generative AI — Gemini Ultra — available to the public, across a host of its apps, while simultaneously killing off the “Bard” brand. 

Gemini Ultra: In December 2023, Google unveiled Gemini, an AI it claimed was its “largest and most capable” to date. It also announced three “sizes” of Gemini — Ultra, Pro, and Nano — each optimized for different use cases.

“It’s an important first step in building a true AI assistant.”

Sissie Hsiao

Gemini Ultra is the most powerful version. It outperformed OpenAI’s GPT-4 on 30 of 32 benchmarks tested and beat human experts on MMLU (massive multitask language understanding), an assessment of knowledge and problem-solving abilities based on a combination of 57 subjects, ranging from math to ethics.

That powerful AI was kept on the shelf, out of reach of most people, though — at the time, Google said it planned to conduct “extensive trust and safety checks” of Gemini Ultra and would only be sharing it with select customers and partners.

Google Advanced: Google is finally making Gemini Ultra widely available through a chatbot called Gemini Advanced, included in the new Google One AI Premium subscription. The plan costs $20 per month after a free two-month trial, and Google says it will soon include access to Gemini Advanced in Google Docs, Gmail, and more.

“Gemini Advanced is far more capable at highly complex tasks with a range of applications like coding, logical reasoning, following nuanced instructions and creative collaboration, amongst many others,” Sissie Hsiao, Google’s VP of Gemini Experiences, said in a press conference.

Bye bye Bard: Gemini Advanced wasn’t Google’s only big announcement — it also shared that it was rebranding its Bard chatbot as simply “Gemini.” 

“Our mission with Bard has always been to give you direct access to our AI models, and Gemini represents our most capable family of models,” wrote Hsiao. “To reflect this, Bard will now simply be known as Gemini.”

Google also released a new Gemini mobile app on Android and said it would be rolling out access to Gemini through the Google iOS app “within the coming weeks.” Paying for Google Advanced will get you access to Gemini Ultra in the apps.

“With Gemini on your phone, you can type, talk, or add an image for all kinds of help while you’re on the go … It’s an important first step in building a true AI assistant — one that is conversational, multimodal, and helpful,” wrote Hsiao.

We’d love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at tips@freethink.com.

Subscribe to Freethink on Substack for free
Get our favorite new stories right to your inbox every week
Related
Second opinions in the age of ChatGPT
ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools are quietly reshaping how people interpret, challenge, and act on medical advice.
The real danger in “I, Robot” isn’t AI. It’s humans.
“I, Robot” is a convincing allegory in favor of embracing AI innovation rather than over-regulating, centralizing, and stifling it.
In humanity’s dance with technology, people lead. Always.
As the history of tech demonstrates, we do not have to simply accept and adapt to AI. We can, collectively, choose what to do with it.
Silicon Valley has entered its superstar engineer era
In the race to AGI, tech companies are borrowing playbooks from sports, finance, and film to land elite talent. Here’s why.
AI can dramatically expand human agency
If we get AI right, it will accelerate empowerment, enabling people to learn any subject, start any business, and realize any vision.
Up Next
Exit mobile version