Google Beefs Up Gemini to Become an All-Around AI Tool

Google is beefing up its features for Gemini, its primary suite of generative AI models and the chatbot that serves as its main interface.

New tools are aimed at productivity, scheduling and learning. The latest update brings Gemini closer to becoming an all-purpose AI platform for individuals and businesses.

In the latest update, Gemini gets guided learning, productivity planners, integration with smart watches and access to its Veo video generator, among other capabilities. For creative folks, the Gemini app now offers image editing using text prompts through its viral Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model, codenamed Nano Banana.

The additions build on Google’s push to make Gemini more than a conversational assistant and into a generalist learning and productivity platform. The update follows the June release of Gemini 2.5 Pro in preview. Google said the model shows improved performance in coding, science and multimodal reasoning tasks.

The update arrives amid an intensifying race among tech giants to make generative AI assistants indispensable.

Microsoft has been rolling out more capable AI tools across consumer and enterprise platforms, including for smart TVs. Meanwhile, OpenAI launched GPT-5 for ChatGPT and added agentic capabilities. It announced Tuesday (Sept. 2) that it would introduce parental controls within the next month.

Google, which rebranded its Bard chatbot as Gemini last year, has sought to position Gemini as a do-everything AI that works across devices and integrates deeply with the company’s productivity software, such as Docs, Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Sheets, Meet and more.

By expanding Gemini’s use cases, Google seeks to incorporate the AI assistant into people’s daily habits in work and life. How well business professionals and individuals embrace these tools may determine which company ultimately dominates the AI race.

In smartphones, Google is already prevailing in AI against rival Apple. PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote in July that Apple faces the risk of the iPhone becoming commoditized because Google’s latest smartphones — Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 — have or will have a natively embedded AI that lets users speak, search, transact and navigate. Apple’s iPhones can’t match that today.

“Getting an AI-powered Android device just may be enough for people to dump their iPhones,” Webster wrote.

Gemini’s New Features

Google’s latest upgrades for Gemini include integration with smart watches using Wear OS, which spans Google’s own Pixel watches as well as those from Samsung, OPPO, OnePlus and Xiaomi.

On the creative front, the Gemini app now has image editing capability through the viral Nano Banana model. It lets users upload an image and then type in prompts to edit it. For example, reimagine how a person might look across the decades, such as the 1970s, with a groovy haircut.

Also, Google has added Veo 3, the newest version of its video generation model. The tool can animate still photos, drawings or digital art into moving video clips, complete with AI-generated audio.

For productivity, Google is also adding scheduled actions, a feature that lets users queue tasks and recurring requests directly within the Gemini app. The Productivity Planner Gem integrates email, Calendar and Drive into a single view, designed to help users prioritize daily tasks more easily.

Meanwhile, Temporary Chat allows people to hold private conversations with Gemini that won’t be saved or affect future responses, an answer to growing demand for more user control over AI memory.

Personalization is another focus. Gemini can now draw on past chat history if users opt in to provide more relevant answers. Google said users remain in control, with the ability to manage or delete stored conversations.

Another new perk is real-time captions to Gemini Live, its voice chatbot, which can also connect with Google services such as Maps.

For education, one new feature is Guided Learning, which helps users break down complex topics into digestible steps. The tool is designed to make explanations more interactive, with the AI walking learners through a process rather than delivering a static answer.

Students and business professionals can also now generate study guides and flash cards directly from their own notes, readings or problem sets, automating one of the more time-consuming aspects of learning.

Google has also introduced Storybook, a feature that allows users to turn personal memories or even dense concepts into illustrated stories that can be read, shared or printed. The tool can add text and audio, blending creative writing with multimodal AI generation.

For more advanced use cases, Gemini’s new Deep Think mode is being rolled out to Ultra subscribers. It is meant to tackle complex reasoning challenges, particularly in mathematics and coding.

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