Google's Gemini AI Falters During 'Made by Google' Event, Echoing Past Tech Demos Gone Awry

'Made By Google' Event Marred By Absence Of 'Demo Spirits' -- Gemini Fails Twice During Live Session: Pixel 9 Launch Details Here - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

On Tuesday, at Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL "Made by Google" event, the tech giant's AI assistant Gemini faced two consecutive glitches during a live demonstration. What Happened: The live demo was designed to highlight Gemini's new features on Android, such as integration with Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep. However, presenter Dave Citron had to go through a somewhat awkward ordeal when the AI refused to provide him an answer. Citron was asking Gemini to check his calendar for availability for an upcoming Sabrina Carpenter concert in San Francisco. However, the "demo spirits," decided to take a break, and Gemini after briefly loading got reset, twice. See Also: Trump Left Shocked By Power-Hungry AI, Tells Elon Musk: 'Requires Twice The Energy That The Country Already Produces' The Presenter tried to make light of the situation and after the third attempt, this time with a different device, Gemini successfully completed the task, prompting a sigh of relief from Citron and cheers from the audience. Why It Matters: During the same event, Google announced major advancements, key among the launch was the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which has a starting price of $1,099. Google also launched Pixel 9, the latest iteration of its flagship smartphone. The Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro are slightly smaller in size compared to the new Pixel 9 Pro XL. Notably, the Pixel 9 is available in a vibrant shade of pink and the starting price for the entry-level Pixel 9 is $799, while the Pixel 9 Pro is priced at $999. The search and advertising giant also launched its latest foldable innovation in the market, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, touting it as the thinnest foldable yet. The device has a starting price of $1,799. Moreover, now the Pixel Watch is available in two sizes -- 41mm and 45mm. The Pixel Watch 3 starts at $349.99 for the 41mm Wi-Fi model and $449.99 for the LTE version, while the 45mm variant is priced at $399.99 for Wi-Fi and $499.99 for LTE. Google also unveiled its latest Pixel Buds model, integrated with AI-powered features along with improved noise cancellation, enhanced call clarity, and the ability to detect in-person conversations (similar to Apple's Conversation Awareness setting). The new Pixel Buds, priced at $229.99, also come with a new twist-to-adjust stabilizer that could prevent the buds from falling out. Price Action: As of this writing, Alphabet's Class A shares and Class C shares were slightly down reaching $162.69 and $164.52, respectively. During the regular session, both Class A and Class C shares were soaring by 1.51% and 1.21%, respectively, according to Benzinga Pro data. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Photo courtesy: Google Read Next: Palantir's AI Breakthrough, Nvidia Being Chips Smuggled Into China, And More: This Week In AI Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Watch: When Google Gemini live demo failed twice on stage at 'Made by Google' event - Times of India

Google hosted its â€~Made by Google’ event last night. During the event, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant - Gemini AI presentation did not go as smooth as expected. Gemini AI’s live demo presentation was marred by unexpected errors twice in a row. Presenter Dave Citron was on the stage showcasing use cases of Gemini Live. With two consecutive failed attempts to get the AI respond to prompts, Citron said “Let's see the demo spirits are with us today.†In the third attempt, Citron switched to another smartphone and finally Gemini completed the task at hand: checking his calendar to see if he's free for Sabrina Carpenter's upcoming show in San Francisco. Watch the video here: The setback did not go unnoticed by internet users as some took to microblogging site X (previously known as Twitter) to report the same. “Ouchâ€| Gemini’s live demo at the #MadeByGoogle event struggled twice before finally working on the third try. ğŸ"£ Definitely an awkward moment, but they pulled through in the end!†wrote one user sharing the video from the event. Users quickly compared the incident to Apple iPhone X launch event when FaceID didn’t work during the presentation. While others mocked the incident. “The Gemini Advanced demo almost failed during the live show, but "demo spirits" saved it at the last minute lol. Pixel 9 Pro looks good and Gemini Advanced is the heart of the Android phone rn,†wrote on X user. “I wouldn't want to be in this Guy's position ğŸ~',†said another. “I'm watching the #MadeByGoogle keynote right now and I'm cringing so hard. Their demos are all sketchy and the production is so basic. â~ ï¸ ğŸ™ˆ Poor guy that just had the Gemini demo fail on him live,†commented another user on X. “ğ -- šğ -- ¥ğ -- ~ğ -- "ğ -- § ğ -- ªğ -- "ğ -- ¬ ğ -- §ğ -- ¢ ğ -- §ğ -- ~ğ -- |ğ -- § ğ -- ¬ğ -- ¢ğ -- ¨ğ -- ¥ ğ -- £ğ -- ¥ğ -- ¢ğ -- -- ğ -- ¨ğ -- -ğ -- § ğŸ~'The third time’s the charm on the first Gemini live demo at #MadeByGoogle,†wrote a user. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk’s news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Google's Demo of Its Latest AI Tech Was an Absolute Train Wreck

Google got egg on its face Tuesday when the live demo of its AI mobile app repeatedly failed in front of a large audience. At this week's Made by Google event, presenters attempted to make the mobile version of Google's Gemini AI perform what seemed like a simple task, CNET reports, but it failed twice before finally working on the third attempt. "Oh, looks like we have a little demo issue," said Google's senior director of product David Citron after he used a smartphone to scan a Sabrina Carpenter concert poster and tasked Gemini to analyze whether he would be free to watch her perform for a future San Francisco date. An awkward silence fell over the crowd as Citron tried to coax Gemini to spit out the right information. "Let's see if the demo spirits are with us today," he said, before getting an error message on the screen. "Uh, oh. Looks like they are not with us." Finally, after what seemed like an interminable wait, Gemini gave Citron the information he wanted on the third try, eliciting a burst of applause from the relieved crowd. Thankfully, that incident seemed to be the only hiccup at the event -- but the lack of response from Gemini must be concerning to Google higher-ups. Gemini has been plagued with problems ever since the tech giant introduced it to the public last year as its answer to rival AI tech such as Microsoft's Copilot or OpenAI's ChatGPT. Earlier this year, Gemini was caught spitting out nonsensical AI-generated images of racial minorities in Nazi uniforms, among other weird images. It was also caught generating erroneous advice such as telling people to open up the back of a film camera to fix a jammed roll of film, which would ruin the pictures inside. Google was also caught faking a Gemini AI demo last year. Beyond Gemini, Google has had trouble with its AI Overviews, the new AI-generated summary feature that appears in some search queries. Users noticed the feature churns out a lot of incorrect information, including telling them to put glue on pizza so the cheese would not slide off. In light of Tuesday's demo, Google is still clearly trying to make its unpolished AI tech work, but it just keeps tripping over its own feet.

Google does an Elon Musk: Netizens remember Tesla CEO as Gemini live demo fails twice during Pixel 9 launch; here's why | Mint

Google's Pixel 9 event saw a failed live demo of its Gemini AI feature, prompting social media comparisons to past tech demo failures, including Elon Musk's Cybertruck and Apple's iPhone X Face ID issues. Google introduced its Pixel 9 lineup at the Made by Google event on Tuesday with many new AI features that are powered by the company's Gemini AI model. The new feature were demonstrated by Google via live demos and things turned a bit awkward for the company when a live demo of a new Gemini feature that failed to go as planned despite two attempts and 'demo spirits' finally got going in the company's favour on the third attempt. During the presentation, Google's Dave Citron attempted to showcase a new Gemini integration with the Calendar app. Citron first attempted the feature via Galaxy S24 Ultra during the first two attempts and then finally switched his device in order to get Gemini working as expected. "So if I happen to come across this Concert Poster for Sabrina Carpenter, I'll just open Gemini and ask, check my calendar and see if I'm free when she's coming to San Francisco this year. Gemini pulls relevant content from the image, connects with my calendar and gives me the information I'm looking for." Citron explained as he tried to show the demo of Gemini's integration with the calendar app 'Let's see if the demo spirits are with us today' Citron hopefully remarked as Gemini took its time before returning an error message. The Google executive tried again only to get the same result. One user while drawing parallel with Elon Musk's 2019 mishap replied to Gemini live demo video with the 2019 Cybertruck video. Meanwhile, one other user stated that Google could blame the failure on other issue like Elon Musk's DDoS attack excuse for issues during live-stream with former US President Donald Trump. They wrote, "Well, they can always pull Elon and claim that they were under imaginary DDoS attack" Another user linked the Gemini demo fail to an issue Apple faced during the iPhone X presentation years ago. They wrote, "Google's Gemini live demo failed twice. 💀 This reminds me of when Face ID refused to work in iPhone X"

Google just held the worst product launch event of 2024 | Digital Trends

I miss the good old days when phone launches were phone launches and not AI events that I have to assume were created using AI that promptly ignored instructions and decided to make it all about itself. Google barely seemed to mention the latest phones and hardware and glossed over the tech during its Made by Google event on August 13 in its rush to try and convince us that its AI is more interesting. Not about phones If you're seeking proof the event wasn't really about its Pixel phones, then look no further than Google using Samsung and Motorola phones on stage to demonstrate its AI features at an event it had already confirmed would feature new Pixel 9 series devices. It also led with 30 minutes of Gemini AI talk and demonstrations before it got to the phones. Even then, we saw a Pixel 9 used (for an AI demo, of course) before it was even spoken about. Recommended Videos One hour into the event, I'd seen only a handful of renders showing the Pixel 9 phones, as the hardware was almost completely ignored. The new phones appear to be a wonderful evolution of what is already a brilliant design, and while Google had cameras capturing the "action" all over the stage, we never got any lovely close-up beauty shots of the phones. Why? Because everyone was desperate to show off how the AI would mess around with my photos, tell me the weather, organize screenshots, and say "super" a lot. The problem is that none of Google's AI demonstrations were that compelling. It was all the same variations on a theme we saw during Google I/O this year. In fact, there were times when I felt I was reliving Google I/O, which wasn't something I relished. It only got worse The exciting Pixel Watch 3's introduction was all over in less than 10 minutes, despite it having one of the only truly interesting features of the event -- Loss of Pulse Detection. This is a health feature we have never seen before, and unlike most of the AI demos, it was something that everyone could immediately understand why it mattered and how it may actually make a difference to someone's life. But Google couldn't hold back for long because as soon as the Pixel Buds Pro 2 came out, it leaped at the chance to do a live demonstration of someone talking to Gemini Live. It was as awkward and cringe-inducing as all the other lets-talk-to-AI demonstrations during the event, so we still didn't learn anything new, and it certainly didn't do anything to sell the product. "The Gemini era is real," said Google's vice president of platforms and devices, Rick Osterloh, when closing the event before going on to talk even more about AI. At least it was about Project Astra, which was one of the only interesting things that came out of Google I/O. Yet, here, it didn't appear very interesting at all because of the massive AI overload everyone had sat through. On and on the closing demonstrations went, with evermore outlandish questions I don't believe anyone will ever ask AI with any seriousness. Like how to start a business. It's all over Make Everyday Easier With Gemini When the event was finally done, Osterloh said attendees could go and try the AI features straightaway. He didn't say go and try the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, or the Pixel Watch. Google's mind is solely on Gemini and AI, to the point where it has forgotten that we all need to buy the phones, watches, and earbuds to use them. I think some new devices were launched during the event that would fit the bill, but I must have missed the details when I went to the bathroom. I want to know about the hardware and the underlying tech that makes the AI work. I want to be beguiled by the new design and understand every curve of the updated shape. I want to know about the test process that enabled the phones to be twice as durable, and I want to see the proof of it, too. Drop a phone out of a plane or something. Show me the watch on a wrist with different straps, how different the new size looks, and just how much smaller the bezels are. I want to fall in love with the products during a product launch event, but I came away from this one barely knowing them at all. Oh, and if you stayed around for the After Party livestream, Hot Ones host Sean Evans sat down with Osterloh and fed him spicy wings and prewritten questions. The first one? "What makes you most excited about the current state of AI?" It would be funny if it wasn't so utterly soul-destroying.