Google's live demo of Gemini ramps up pressure on Apple as AI reaches smartphone users

During Google's Pixel phone launch on Tuesday, a product director named David Citron took the stage to show off the mobile capabilities of the company's new AI assistant, Gemini. Things got awkward right after the presenter told the audience, "all the demos today are live, by the way."

In front of a big crowd of media and analysts at Google's Silicon Valley headquarters and about 100,000 viewers on YouTube, Citron took a photo of a concert poster and asked the assistant to check his calendar to see if he's free the night pop star Sabrina Carpenter is playing in San Francisco.

The demo failed, freezing up and displaying an error message. Citron tried again, with the same result. After a quick verbal appeal to the "demo gods," and a phone swap, the third try worked.

"Sure, I found that Sabrina Carpenter is coming to San Francisco on November 9, 2024," the assistant wrote in a message that popped up on Citron's screen. "I don't see any events on your calendar during that time."

While the incident was brief and buggy, the demo highlighted one of Google's advantages as artificial intelligence features make their way deeper into smartphone software. Rivals are preparing consumers for a future of AI, but Google's Gemini features are real and are shipping — at least for testing purposes — now.

In June, Apple presented a prerecorded video, rather than a live demo, to showcase its assistant Siri's forthcoming leap in capability to take actions and understand context under its new AI system called Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence is currently in testing for developers, but some of its most critical improvements, including image generation, integration with ChatGPT and key advancements for its assistant Siri, haven't yet officially