After years of sprinkling AI in its mobile products, Google is completely dependent on it.
The company is integrating Gemini deeply into Android, allowing its AI assistant to manage a wide range of everyday tasks across apps — a move that could reshape the way people interact with their phones. Google shared the update last week, ahead of its I/O developer conference on Tuesday, where it is expected to delve deeper into its AI ambitions.
Rather than jumping between apps for mundane tasks like filling out forms, scheduling appointments and making reservations, Gemini will soon be able to handle it all for you. Google wants this advanced skill, called Gemini Intelligence (not to be confused with Apple Intelligence), to feel like a real assistant — one that does its job diligently without needing constant instruction.
“The difference between yesterday’s technology and Gemini Intelligence’s technology is that it has you,” Ben Greenwood, director and product manager of Android Core Experiences, told me in an interview. “I want one assistant to work with who understands me and knows me. [be] Consistency in all the products I use is very important to build trust and ease of interaction.”
Google shared AI updates during its Android Show presentation on Tuesday. Gemini Intelligence will perform common actions like creating a shopping order from a grocery list in your Notes app. It can automatically fill out complex forms using information stored in connected apps like Google Drive, such as your driver’s license or passport number. You can take a photo of the brochure and ask Gemini to get a group of six for a tour. It can also create custom widgets based on simple notifications, such as displaying the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius. You can read CNET’s more detailed description of what’s coming to Android here.
Watch this: The biggest AI review for Android: Everything you need to know about Gemini Intelligence
These capabilities add to a few Gemini functions that arrived on the Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S26 handsets earlier this year. Gemini Intelligence will also work on Android Auto, Wear OS and Google’s smart glasses for a unified experience across devices.
Gemini Intelligence will start coming to Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones later this summer. Google did not specify which upcoming Galaxy devices will be compatible, but Samsung is expected to reveal the next generation of its folders in the coming months. Google is also expected to release new Pixel phones in the summer.
Bringing Gemini Intelligence to premium Android devices could give Google an edge over competitors like Apple, which has yet to bring an intuitive and useful Siri to the iPhone — or Google’s soon-to-be Gemini models will help power that update.
Android’s AI-centric shift likely spells the beginning of what’s to come for the wider industry.
A glimpse of the future of the first AI smartphone
For years, tech companies have been pointing to a future where AI will fundamentally change the way we use our phones. As digital assistants become more powerful, they may soon be able to handle many of the daily tasks.
Some experts have even predicted that AI will replace the apps on our phones entirely, replaced by functional, productive AI platforms that respond to our every command. Why switch to siled apps to play music, praise and send messages when a virtual assistant can take care of all that and more?
Signs of that change are beginning to emerge, with reports that OpenAI may be developing its own AI-powered smartphone. If all goes well, the company could begin mass production in the first half of next year. Amazon is reportedly looking to re-enter the smartphone market, this time with a handset that focuses on AI features rather than traditional apps.
“Users are not trying to use a lot of applications,” said industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in an OpenAI news report last month. “They are trying to do tasks and fulfill needs through the phone. This is changing the way people think about smartphones.”
Gemini Intelligence on Android doesn’t extend to removing apps from your phone — at least not yet. But it is something designed to reduce the amount of time you spend manually completing individual tasks. Google hopes that even people who are tired of the constant stream of AI features will be enticed to give Gemini Intelligence a try.
“We’re all tired of the ‘Times Square-AI’ type of experience,” Greenwood said, nodding to the growing fatigue surrounding splashy AI announcements. “The way the team has dealt with this has been to look at, what are the real problems people have and are experiencing, and how can we help?”
He points to a Gemini Intelligence feature called Rambler as an example. In Gboard, Google’s Android keyboard, the speech-to-text tool can now filter out corrections, duplicates and filler words. For example, if you’re writing a grocery list to someone and say, “Would you like some toast, cereal and bananas — actually, there are no bananas,” it will write down the toast and the cereal. Rambler can also tap into Gemini’s multilingual model to switch between languages within a single message — catering to those of us who often mix languages as we speak.
“You’re not trying to teach new behavior,” Greenwood noted. People who already use the microphone function on their keyboard may not think about how AI uses information. Autofill is another example of AI quietly handling a task like filling out forms without commanding too much attention.
Ultimately, it’s about making a lot of things happen automatically, without you having to write what you want. The big question is how comfortable people are with letting Google’s AI take the wheel more often. Either way, the broader shift towards AI-driven smartphones appears to be well under way.
