Why I’m dreading the switch from Assistant to Gemini on my Google Home

There’s no denying that Gemini is absolutely going to replace Google Assistant as the sole AI system for Google services at some point in the near future.

The tech giant has announced that early access will be available next month and, mysteriously, that they would “share more details soon.”

Many are excited about the change, noting that the more powerful AI should translate into some pretty great functionality for smart homes.

But I don’t want Gemini to replace Assistant in my smart home. I’m full-on dreading it, because of a very specific feature that Assistant excels at greatly, which isn’t even available on Gemini in any capacity.

I am talking about using Google Assistant as a white noise machine to ensure a good night’s rest.

Google Assistant is a top-tier white noise machine

From the sounds of the ocean to the sounds of a thunderstorm

I’m a sensitive sleeper, and for at least the majority of my adult life, I have slept with some kind of white noise machine.

Granted, they usually came in the form of a box fan, but once I got on the Google Home bandwagon, that was it.

Since 2018, I have used the smart speaker to lull me to sleep with “sounds of the ocean,” “sounds of a thunderstorm,” and even simply just “some white noise.”

What if I’m traveling, you ask? No, I don’t pack my Google Home every time I travel somewhere that requires an overnight stay. That would be ridiculous. Mostly because I don’t have to.

I’ve been a Pixel user for almost as long as I’ve been a Google Home owner, so I can use my phone to keep my head adrift in dreamland with the same sounds I’m used to at home.

That’s right, no more cranking the air conditioner in your hotel room to drown out the sound of your noisy neighbors. You’ve got a white noise machine with you at all times.

Plus, combined with all the automation in the Google Home platform, you can really take advantage of some convenient functionality.

Instead of the abrasive ring of an alarm clock, you could wake up in the morning to the sounds of the jungle in your room.

You can calm yourself each night before bed with a babbling brook that starts playing when you should hit the hay.

Can Gemini replicate that seamless experience? I fear not.

Gemini can’t even generate audio

You can do a lot with Gemini. You can generate images, create copy, develop videos with Veo, learn with NotebookLM, and even do deep research with Google Deep Research.

One thing it can’t, or simply won’t do, is generate audio, which is a substantial obstacle to it being an effective white noise machine for bedtime.

If you ask Gemini to play white noise, or the sounds of the ocean, or the sounds of a thunderstorm, you get the same response: I can’t play sounds.

If you ask a few extra times, Gemini will get a bit annoyed and explain that it does not have the power to do this with a lengthier paragraph than those heartbreaking four words.

This seems like an easy fix, but the change simply hasn’t come.

There have been no announcements from Google about fixing how I’ve been battling the Gemini prompts on the Pixel devices in hopes of preserving my go-to travel white noise machine.

Still, I fear that eventually, I won’t have the option.

I still have time

They aren’t forcing anything yet

While the threat to my sleep schedule is inevitable, I still have time to get a good night’s rest before Google forces everyone to swap over to Gemini.

The company just announced in a blog post that it plans to roll out early access to Gemini for Google Home in October, with no news about wider availability.

That, combined with the fact that AI platforms are still notoriously prone to suffering serious errors and hallucinations, and Google Home poses a whole new range of security threats, hopefully means that Google is going to take its time to get it right.

Also, availability and forced adoption are typically spaced out by more than a month or two, so for the sake of my sleep schedule, I hope I have as much time as I think.

A few months is probably the best I can hope for, though, with Gemini’s replacement of Assistant all but written in the stars.

After all, there’s really no point in Google maintaining two AI systems moving forward, with Google Home devices being the last stand for the majority of Assistant’s usefulness.

Unless, like me, you rely on the AI to get to sleep at night, in which case, like me, you’re out of luck.