Then there’s the new subscription plan, Google AI Pro, which used to be Gemini Advanced, plus the new AI Ultra plan.
Then there’s Gemini in Chrome, which is different from AI Mode in search.
Oh, and there’s Deep Search, which is part of the new AI Mode coming to Google Search.
And then there’s Search Live, which lets you point a camera at something and ask questions about it.
There’s Project Mariner, the click-around-a-website agent mode, which is confusing to me personally as a Seattle Mariners fan.
At least we’re not calling any of these things Bard, to Google’s credit. During the Great Chatbot Rush of 2023, Google initially called its AI chatbot that. Google reportedly decided it had to launch something before there was time to think about not naming it Bard after OpenAI released ChatGPT. The business fixed that error and adopted Gemini, incorporating Duet in the process. All of this was a really smart idea.
The naming conventions are out of control once more, as demonstrated by this week’s Google I/O. One option is Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think, which is intended to solve challenging arithmetic and programming issues. DeepMind, the AI research division of Google’s parent company, is the manufacturer of this product. Not to mention Deep Search, which is a component of Google Search’s upcoming AI Mode. Then there’s Search Live, which allows you to ask questions about something while pointing a camera at it. However, it is not to be confused with Gemini Live, which also allows you to point a camera at an object and ask questions about it. Additionally, I keep getting lost on Google Lens, which is still around.
Additionally, there is Flow, an AI video editing tool, Veo, Google’s image-generation model, and Flow TV, where you can view other people’s strange AI-generated videos. These three names—Vertex, Lyria, and Imagen—may also be a list of possible baby names from around 2007. Gemini comes in a variety of flavors, including the multimodal AI assistant. This is distinct from Project Astra, which is also a multimodal AI assistant but isn’t yet usable. As a fan of the Seattle Mariners, I find Project Mariner’s click-around-a-website agent mode to be confusing. Google’s demo of buying Cincinnati Reds tickets made this even more confusing, but I’m getting off topic.
There is a part of me that feels sorry for Google. We are observing how the business learns to create and promote new technologies and the resources necessary to employ them immediately. CEO Sundar Pichai described the rate of new product releases as “relentless” while he was on stage. OpenAI, Meta, and its investors are putting pressure on Google to release AI features as quickly as possible. Perhaps it doesn’t leave much time for creative naming techniques.
However, this seems to be the ripple effect of a well-known issue that is specific to Google: disparate teams developing related technologies without communicating with one another. That’s how you wind up releasing seven distinct chat apps, each with slightly different features and names, or perhaps nine different ways to use artificial intelligence to find a new pair of shoes. According to Google, would you be interested in using AI to assist you with your purchases?
It’s funny that we’re discussing Google. Just Google it, that is. When you need to find out something, you use the company name as a verb. In terms of household recognition, Google is comparable to companies like Kleenex. However, the name “Google” seems to be a holdover from a bygone era when some endearing idiots revolutionized web usage. As I read this press release, I’m trying to figure out which features belong to Gemini, what Project Mariner does, and how Astra relates to Lens. I’m also a little confused. I suppose I’ll just look it up on Google.
