You’ll undoubtedly have heard of Google Gemini, as it’s found within many of the best Android phones.
Essentially, Gemini is Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant that can do everything from answer questions, search the web and even create music. And it’s free to use too.
But what really is Google Gemini and how does it actually work? Which devices can you use Gemini on?
We explain everything you need to know about Gemini AI below. If you’re keen to see how Google’s assistant compares to some of the top dogs, then visit our Apple Intelligence vs Google Gemini and Claude vs Gemini comparisons too.
What is Gemini AI?
Gemini was officially announced back in February 2024, as Google revealed it would replace its previous AI system, Bard.
Although you might only know it as a chatbot, Gemini is actually the collective name for multiple AI models that fall under the same umbrella. However, the name “Gemini” refers to both the models and the public-facing chatbot.
Essentially, Gemini is described as being the interface to a multiple modal LLM (Large Language Model) which can handle text, audio and image-based prompts. It’s based on Google’s research into LLMs which started back in 2013.
What can you do with Gemini?
Gemini can understand and answer user’s questions or their provided prompts with relevant results. For example, you can ask Gemini to create an email draft, summarise long-bodies of text and even write code.
Gemini can also be used to generate images, create videos and even music with just a simple prompt. In addition, with the use of Gemini Live which is found within the Gemini smartphone app, you can have in-depth conversations with the AI system in real-time too.
How does Gemini work?
Google breaks down the technicalities of how Gemini actually works into four stages:
- Pre-training
- Post-training
- Responses to user prompts
- Human feedback and evaluation
Google explains that its AI models are pre-trained on a “variety of data from publicly available sources”, although Google does disclaim that it applies “quality” and “safety filtering” to remove content that may violate policy.
After initial training, Google explains the LLMs are then put through additional steps to refine responses. Then there’s Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, where the model learns to generate better responses based on “scores or feedback from a special Reward model” that’s trained on human preference data.
Once Gemini is then given a prompt by a user, it will call on its training and use external sources like Google Search to generate relevant responses.
In the instance where Gemini gets something wrong or needs tweaking, then this is where the fourth stage kicks in. Basically, it relies on humans to flag any mistakes and identify areas for improvement too.
How to access Google Gemini
There are a few ways you can access Gemini, with the main being via its free-to-download iOS or Android app. That’s probably the easiest way to access the chatbot, and you’ll benefit from access to Gemini Live too.
Otherwise, you can access the chatbot via its website instead.
Does Google Gemini cost money?
While Gemini is free to use, you can unlock more features and up-to-date models by paying a subscription. At the time of writing, while the free version of Gemini runs on Gemini 3, you can upgrade to Google AI Plus to access Google’s most capable 3.1 Pro model. Not only that, but you’ll have access to Nano Banana Pro, alongside limited access to Google’s new video generator Veo 3.1, Gemini within Google apps and 200GB storage too. That’s the cheapest of the available plans, at £6.99/$7.99 a month.
The next available plan is Google AI Pro, which includes everything found in Plus, alongside Google Home Premium (Standard), Fitbit Premium and access to Google Antigravity and Google Developer Programme Premium. This is slightly pricier at £18.99/$19.99 a month, but you will also see 2TB of storage too.
Finally, the top-tier plan is Google AI Ultra, which will set you back a whopping £234.99 a month. However, you’ll get everything from the Pro plan, plus the highest limits for all Gemini features and models, YouTube Premium, Google Home (Premium Advanced) and 30TB of storage too.
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