The annual event, Google for India 2024, was hosted in New Delhi on Thursday, highlighting the tech giant’s commitment to enhancing its offerings for the Indian market. Among the key announcements was the introduction of new capabilities for its AI chatbot, Gemini. Last month, Google launched a two-way verbal communication feature called Gemini Live, which is now being expanded to support Hindi and eight additional regional Indian languages.
Gemini Live Expands Language Support
Hema Budaraju, the Senior Director of Product Management, shared that Gemini Live is now being updated to include Hindi along with several regional languages. This AI-driven capability enables users to engage in real-time conversations with the chatbot, utilizing natural dialogue. Originally presented during Google I/O, this feature is powered by Google DeepMind.
The rollout of Gemini Live began in August for subscribers of Gemini Advanced before being made available to users on the free version of the service on Android devices. Previously, the functionality was exclusive to English users.
Budaraju announced the addition of Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Urdu for Gemini Live. This enables speakers of these languages to interact with the chatbot, allowing for prompts and verbal responses in their native tongues. Staff members from Gadgets 360 reported successful access to the feature in several of these languages.
Gemini Live retains the ability to perform all the generative tasks available in the text-based version of the chatbot. Users can ask follow-up questions without restating the entire context, facilitating a more natural conversational flow, akin to talking with a person. However, the function does not feature contextual voice modulation or emotional expression, which is available in ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode.
To access Gemini Live, users can launch the Gemini app or activate the Gemini assistant on their Android devices. A new waveform icon appears beside the text input field, and tapping this icon opens the full-screen interface for the feature. Users can start speaking their questions, with the AI providing instant responses. To interrupt or end the session, users can select from two buttons at the bottom of the screen—Hold and End Call.
