On Tuesday, Google introduced a series of new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for its Gemini Advanced subscribers. The anticipated features include an AI video generation tool and agentic tools, although a timeline for their release remains unclear. Concurrently, the tech company from Mountain View is beginning to deploy the Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental and Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking AI models to its paying users. In the process, the older 1.5 Pro and Flash models have been phased out of the AI applications.
New Features Teased for Gemini Advanced Users
A report from 9to5Google indicated that Google has communicated with its Gemini Advanced subscribers through a newsletter, hinting at upcoming features that may be made available in the near future. While no specific dates were provided, users were tantalizingly informed that they might soon have the capacity to generate videos via the Gemini platforms.
Within the newsletter, Google highlighted new creative possibilities with leading video, image, and audio generation tools. The Gemini app currently allows access to Imagen 3, the company’s latest image generation model. However, Veo 2, which is the latest video generation model, is not yet available to users. It appears the company is preparing to introduce video generation capabilities along with inline editing for image generation, while audio generation might be integrated through its MusicLM platform.
The newsletter also mentioned agentic tools, which are designed to perform tasks on behalf of users. This aligns with expectations surrounding Google DeepMind’s Project Mariner, anticipated to launch this year. Project Mariner was initially highlighted at Google I/O 2024, showcasing Gemini’s ability to execute multiple complex tasks within various applications using a single prompt.
Additionally, subscribers to Gemini Advanced will gain access to the Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental and Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking models. The former represents the most advanced model in the 2.0 series, while the latter functions as a reasoning model that utilizes a transparent chain-of-thought (CoT) approach.
Users on the free tier of the Gemini app can still utilize the Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental model, which was added recently. The experimental “Thinking with apps” model is now accessible to free users, enabling them to perform reasoning-focused tasks across various applications, including YouTube, Maps, and Google Search.
However, these new offerings have resulted in the discontinuation of the older models, meaning Gemini users will no longer have access to the 1.5 Pro and 1.5 Flash models.
