A faster and more widely available Gemini chatbot has been developed by Google

Google is enhancing its AI-powered chatbot, Gemini, in a bid to stay competitive with rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. The company has announced updates to the free version of Gemini, focusing on performance improvements and broader accessibility. Starting Thursday, Gemini 1.5 Flash, a streamlined multimodal model introduced in May, will be available on the web and mobile platforms in 40 languages and across approximately 230 countries. This version is touted to offer significant upgrades in quality, speed, reasoning, and image understanding, and may also be more cost-effective to operate.

Gemini 1.5 Flash, described as a “distilled” version of Gemini 1.5 Pro, is designed for specialized, frequent generative AI tasks. The model’s efficiency is particularly beneficial for reducing operational costs, a critical factor in maintaining a free chatbot service. Additionally, Google is expanding Gemini’s context window to 32,000 tokens, or roughly 24,000 words. This enhancement allows the model to handle longer inputs and maintain continuity in conversations, thus improving its ability to summarize and analyze extended text segments.

Previously, file upload capabilities were restricted to the paid version, Gemini Advanced. However, Google is now extending this feature to all users, allowing them to upload files from Google Drive or local devices for analysis. This functionality can assist users in creating practice questions from study guides or visualizing data through charts.

To address the issue of AI hallucinations, where the model generates incorrect information, Google is testing a feature that provides links to related web content under certain responses. This transparency aims to clarify the sources of information and reduce instances of false or misleading outputs. Additionally, Google is expanding the availability of Gemini in the European Economic Area, the U.K., and Switzerland, including support for languages such as French, Polish, and Spanish. The Gemini mobile app is also being launched in more countries.

Furthermore, Google is broadening access to teenagers globally, alongside introducing new policies and safeguards to protect young users. This includes a teen-specific onboarding process and an AI literacy guide to encourage responsible use of the technology. This expansion reflects Google’s cautious approach to ensuring that the AI tool is used appropriately and safely by younger audiences.