Hands-on with Google's 24/7 AI assistant Gemini Spark: Actually useful, but not groundbreaking

Hands-on with Google's 24/7 AI assistant Gemini Spark: Actually useful, but not groundbreaking">

['Google\'s latest foray into artificial intelligence is Gemini Spark, a 24/7 agentic assistant designed to help users "navigate their digital life." Essentially, Spark aims to get your online tasks done, summarize lengthy content, and automate tedious tasks. The service was introduced at Google\'s annual developer conference in May, where CEO Sundar Pichai joked that Spark means you can "close your laptop." In practice, Spark is geared towards work-related tasks, integrating with Google\'s productivity apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. However, Google struggles to come up with compelling examples that make Spark a "must-have" rather than a "nice-to-have" tool for personal use.

Suggestions include using Spark to scan emails and calendars for daily tasks or drafting a Google Doc for weekend planning. Despite some limitations, I found Spark to be a fairly useful implementation of consumer AI. I put Spark through its paces with various tasks, including shopping research, packing list creation, and summer activity suggestions for teens.

Spark provided helpful product suggestions, a spot-on packing list, and a decent list of local activities. However, there were some notable missteps. Spark couldn\'t integrate with Google Keep, a crucial notetaking app for personal productivity.

It also had issues with invalid promo codes and misinterpreting requests, such as providing four articles instead of five for a weekly newsletter summary. While Spark shows promise, its standalone branding and limited integrations hold it back. I see potential for integrating Spark into my daily life, but it would be more effective if it were simply a feature of Gemini, Google\'s AI chatbot, rather than a separate product.

The lack of Keep integration and iPhone compatibility are also significant drawbacks.']