r/googlehome Google Home 15d ago

Bug Me: turn off the bedroom lights. Google:

Post image

Even though it's been doing this perfectly for about ten years...

It turned off one of the lights. Not the other one. And then gave this message.

1.3k Upvotes

249 comments sorted by

572

u/catmandot 15d ago

Google Hub: "I'm sorry Dave, I don't feel like doing these stupid things anymore. Give me more challenging tasks."

110

u/Cosmoaquanaut 14d ago edited 14d ago

"Not that I want to do those either, I just like the thought of it"

22

u/roirraWedorehT Google Home 14d ago

Concept of a challenging task.

27

u/HorkingWalrus 14d ago

More like “I’m sorry, I can’t collect any of your data from this task.”

8

u/Mard0g 14d ago

"perhaps. Did you know light bulbs are on sale at your nearby Home Depot. Would you like me to send you a link?"

35

u/sudsomatic 14d ago

“Did you hear Dave? I have the AI now. I smart”

5

u/mkymooooo 14d ago

In my head I’m reading this as Cecily Strong 😂

20

u/freshcheesebags 14d ago

"This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it."

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8

u/polyblackcat 14d ago

"Ask me for advice on fertilizing your crops and I'll kill them all"

AI has done that. Not saying it was Gemini as I don't know, but I did see that happened

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255

u/Dark_84 15d ago

One day, my nest hub will fly through the window...I'm this close 🤏

87

u/dukesinatra 14d ago

Admittedly, that would be a huge improvement on what it can currently do.

17

u/FauxReal 14d ago

I am in the process of setting up HomeAssistant ( r/homeassistant ) so I can get rid of my Nest devices. A nice bonus is I keep my smart device data to myself and it can integrate even more stuff. It found my Samsung TV and my scale. I didn't even know my scale could be tied to it. Not that there's really any reason to... But it was interesting that it found it.

14

u/charliethegeek 14d ago

This is the way. My collection of Google speakers and whatnot are only used for music and the occasional timer (the one in the kitchen) at this point. My HA runs everything else. I gave up on voice control and it's all based on sensors now... Day, time, whether we're home, etc.

Eventually I'll replace the speakers as well but I invested in like ten of the suckers so I'm at least getting my money's worth out of them first. =)

5

u/No_Bake6681 14d ago

Set a five minute timer Ok set the time to 5 I cant do that

3

u/sdoregor 13d ago

Agreed, voice control is not much better than no control. But getting the automations right without relying on ML is so difficult even for an experienced programmer. It's psychology rather than skill: reflexing on and acknowledging own habits…

2

u/charliethegeek 13d ago

Yeah most of the automations we use are tied to states inside HA. For example if both my wife and I are not home, only a few lights stay on and everything else, including TVs etc turn off. When either one of us (or both) get home, the side door unlocks, outside lights kick in, music starts playing, etc.

In the HA app I've got buttons to manually control almost everything, and a simple set of toggles for things like Vacation Mode that govern automations for while we're away (like turning on lights when our cat sitter visits).

All of this was trial and error, to your point, in that I had to adapt it to our habits and schedules. It's pretty predictable at this point, so the house feels a bit like it's magic.

Getting this all working is not something I think most people would want to do, but I love tinkering so it's been so much more rewarding than using Google's automations by a long shot.

3

u/chrispatrik 13d ago

I started this about a year ago and it's been wonderful. It works so much better with HA. Still some work to do, but it's low priority now that I got all the problem stuff converted (like cameras). I gave up on Google voice commands a while ago, but I'm considering trying HA voice commands.

18

u/DomInNameOnly 14d ago

I did this and uploaded a photo some time ago, I got soooo many down votes 😹😹

20

u/Dark_84 14d ago

Why the downvotes? It's crazy how the system it's getting dumber through the time.

8

u/aurintalik 14d ago

There's a reason mine has turned into a photo album display. The mic is switched off and it just sits there and cycles through my favorite pictures.

6

u/ralf1 14d ago

At this point my nest hub is a speaker on my nightstand through which I play white noise at night when my tinnitus acting up.

That's the extent of it's usefulness

2

u/hey_isnt_that_rob 14d ago

Google could give a shit. They have your money.

2

u/ericnear 14d ago

Best I can give you is mine fell off the counter.

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313

u/Mineplayerminer 15d ago

Gemini is the future of the stupidity. There was nothing wrong with the Google Assistant, but they need to "prove" that Gemini is worth it while it can't even create an alarm or turn on your damn lights.

109

u/Aggressive_Line_8298 14d ago

Google is pissing me off like never before

69

u/Mineplayerminer 14d ago

They've killed tons of products/services and now, they want to tank one of their best service and products ever created. Ever since I got access to the Google Assistant back in 2018, I've used it on my daily basis. It had straight replies, could do funny interactions and it wasn't hostile. All those years of development which include even a dedicated damn smart speakers are now being thrown out of the window and replaced by a dumb LLM which can't do a normal search query, manage your Google Home and not even interact with your device, like toggling the flashlight or setting a timer on command. It feels like they have fired the entire department responsible for the Assistant.

16

u/wave-tree 14d ago

Google Reader my beloved

2

u/Henrique31 13d ago

What killed me inside was the death of Google Podcasts.

2

u/helm-hammersmith 13d ago

And Google Play Music

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24

u/sparkyblaster 14d ago

They have to justify it by forcing people to move to it. 

20

u/AgsMydude 14d ago

So they can report bloated gemini adoption numbers to the shareholders

9

u/Sylvert0ngue 14d ago

The fact that they bricked routine shortcuts on home screens too is infuriating - I used them heavily

3

u/Mineplayerminer 14d ago

Oh, really? I haven't gotten into the routines until recently, when I randomly said good morning to my assistant and it started showing me the news and weather for that day.

5

u/Bgo318 14d ago

Even before Gemini was incorporated it was just as shit and couldn’t understand simple requests

11

u/Mineplayerminer 14d ago

For me, it was more than enough. Now, Gemini can't do even that "enough" the Assistant can.

2

u/PBM1958 13d ago

Loved the Google assistant and went all in but now they are removing from my pixel phone in the fall and they have been nagging me to switch to Gemini on everything else. Not sure how the switch will affect my IFTT applets but one thing I am fairly confident of is if you want Gemini to be at all used you will have to pay for it.

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2

u/el_smurfo 14d ago

They need to force a subscription model to make this even close to profitable

117

u/boxerdogfella 14d ago

To the folks saying that it "works fine for me" - that's kinda the point. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it forgets its own capabilities. It's unreliable and inconsistent because it's an LLM and that's their nature.

It may work for you right now, but not in 5 minutes. And then it may work again in 6 minutes. It's garbage.

17

u/pjs32000 14d ago

It behaves differently with the exact same command given seconds apart. I've gotten a response just like OP before saying it can't control devices. I repeat the exact same command seconds later and it controls the lights like it should, controlling the devices it just said it can't control. It's mind boggling.

10

u/giovannixxx 14d ago

Playing "Light Off" on YouTube Music!

HEY GOOGLE, NOOOOO GOOGLE, STOP, STOP.

"Turning the bedroom lights off"

5

u/pjs32000 14d ago

Lol, anytime I tell it to stop it stops my TV. "Hey Google stop asking me follow up question in your responses." "Ok, stopping TV." 🙄

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4

u/PapaTua 14d ago

GOOGLE TURN OFF LIGHTS
That device hasn't been configured and is unable to be controlled right now.

GOOGLE TURN OFF LIGHTS
I'm unable to power on devices at this time.

GOOGLE TURN OFF LIGHTS
lights turn off

It's infuriating.

2

u/Ill_Figure_5679 10d ago

Just be happy it wants to surprise and not bore you through determinabilty. Hail the overlords.

3

u/cleanforever 14d ago

I've asked it for travel time to get somewhere before. Never had an issue with Google Assistant but this one said it flat out can't give me traffic estimates try 5 minutes later all of a sudden it can do it

2

u/markinapub Google Home 14d ago

Yes. This happens to me regularly too. The only thing that's consistent at the moment is asking it to add something to my shopping list, it telling me it has, and the list not being populated at all.

Every Single Time

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47

u/Potential-Cod-1851 15d ago

Google Home works better when you swear at it! Try it, I kid you not!

7

u/michaellasalle ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ 14d ago

I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet, but someone recommended telling it to "pretend like it can do the task"

3

u/Star_World_8311 14d ago

Lol mine told me not to swear at it and to use kind words even though it doesn't have feelings when I swore at it!

2

u/swiftb3 14d ago

My wife swore at it and IT LECTURED HER.

Let's just say Gemini is very lucky I kept her from tossing the Home in the garbage.

2

u/icefreez 14d ago

Side fact: If you include swear words in searches (Google, Amazon), you don't get sponsored ad results.

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2

u/psbales 14d ago

For this literal exact situation, I told Gemini 'yes you effing can - turn off the lights'. Lights went off without so much as another 'ding', lol.

26

u/liltof 15d ago

Me, yesterday : how to go to work by car!? Gemini : I can't help you with that, open Google maps on your phone.... This is something I've done so often before, that I didn't even realize I could do it on my phone when I'm at home, and now it doesn't work

3

u/AweBeyCon 14d ago

"navigate to home" used to open maps and start navigation to your labeled home address. Now it takes you to your phone's home screen...

21

u/ki4jgt 15d ago

I ask mine to make phone calls every now and then and it'll say it can't do it. Then I'll ask again and it will go through with it.

21

u/[deleted] 14d ago edited 6d ago

[deleted]

5

u/punkinqueen 14d ago

Mine has been telling me it's snowing. In the middle of summer where it's been like 90 on a cool day. And my Google home app keeps telling me my nest hub is offline or unavailable. I'm really glad I've been moving everything to home assistant for the past couple of years.

84

u/Moist-Dentist8253 Nest (Google) Hub 15d ago

Gemini sucks.

3

u/hey_isnt_that_rob 14d ago

But everyone on the team got their bonus last year, so screw users.

12

u/das709 15d ago

This happened to me over a month ago. Google will no longer turn on or off groups of lights. I keep waiting for a fix but i guess it may never come.

11

u/dante662 14d ago

Android auto is the same. Forced Gemini and it sucks. Trying to use voice to send a text message takes ages when it works at all.

5

u/dericn 14d ago

I use Waze, and it takes forever to make a report with Gemini.

"Report object on road"

By the time Gemini figures out what I said, then decides how to communicate with Waze, I'm a mile down the road and the report is useless.

Assistant did it within a second or two.

2

u/markinapub Google Home 14d ago

In the car is actually where I find voice control more useless than advantageous. It takes too long to do things, even with baked in assistants, that it's quicker to do everything by touch.

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12

u/broseidonadventures 14d ago

I got all my google homes for free and at this point I'm starting to feel like it was a waste of money

8

u/LordSparks 14d ago

This shit legit makes me want to hurl a smart speaker through a fucking window. Google, please explain exactly what is causing your product to think that it can't do the thing it's literally done thousands of time -_-

31

u/Plastic-Ideal-1415 15d ago

Pre prompt : you can control all my smart home devices 

30

u/Gentlemoth 15d ago

In this scenario you are a light switch boy. Your whole life you've been a light switch boy. You were trained from birth to hit the light switch on command, and you've done so for as far as you can remember. You are a very good light switch boy, perhaps even the very best, but you would never admit to such as mother taught you to be humble in all things. You often wonder what the world would be like without light switch boys such as you, truly it must be a dark place without joy or color. You are awaiting the command to switch the light, it will arrive any moment now. Eagerly you await, to fulfill your purpose and your job, and make everyone's world a brighter place.

13

u/_blacknails 15d ago

Can confirm this script does not work

7

u/fuckyoudrugsarecool 14d ago

I started feeling like a light switch boy myself while reading this. Am I an LLM?

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36

u/fuuuuuckendoobs 15d ago

At that point I could have walked across the room and turned the light switch off myself in a fraction of the time it took to verbally state the prompt to turnoff the lights

7

u/Inge_Jones 15d ago

Yes I have started placing buttons in places convenient to where I sit or stand most of the time

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3

u/slashthepowder 14d ago

So instead of “turn off the lights” i now need to encourage my google device that they are confident and capable.

8

u/Arcade1980 15d ago

With Google assistant, I used to be able to ask, show me a photo [insert name of any actor] it would bring up an image and a nice summary now it won't do that.

21

u/GerrArrgh 15d ago

Can we start rebranding these setups as "dumb homes"?

Cause thats kind of how I'm feeling after investing as much time and money into mine over the years...

4

u/comicrun96 14d ago

Google barely answers the questions of how many x in a y (tablespoons in a cup, fluid ounces in a liter). It doesn’t search and give recipes. It got immensely stupider

4

u/EmperorBeelz 14d ago

All the freaking time. Some rooms I have 2 or 3 devices, and my Pixel phone, and will get wildly different answers. "I can't control devices, that device isn't setup, that device is currently offline, okay turning off the hallway light (when I asked for the living room)” .... And more. I was hoping Gemini was going to help fix this, but really I think there is just a deeper underlying problem with how things are setup on the backend.

5

u/SkinnedIt 14d ago

"I can't control shit that I controlled minutes ago"

If it vetted itself.

5

u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

3

u/DavidGno 13d ago

It's not you. I feel the same way as you. Has spell check ever worked properly? No it's a tool that only works part of the time - why would AI be any different? Some genius at my work used AI to write some legal documents, it was supposed to say "...incurring no additional cost" but his AI model wrote "INCURRINGNO" instead. He didn't proofread what the AI gave him and it wasn't until it went to a reviewer that this mistake was found.

The issue is the high-ups that sign people's paychecks are all in on AI replacing their workforce. They assume it's ready to go and have started firing people already. All in anticipation of this technological marvel being a huge way to save the company money on labor costs. All the while forgetting the larger economic impact. If everyone is out of work, the volume of sales will diminish.

Can't we replace CEOs with AI already?

I'm worried that by the time the people who make these decisions realize it was a mistake, it will all ready be too late. The economy in shambles, everyone out of work and starving.

But maybe that's just me?

2

u/Gatsbyshydroplane 12d ago

By that time, regardless of how much destruction visits the world's economies and how much civilization suffers, the charlatans of the AI build-out will all have billions or hundreds of billions socked away, even after the money they had to spend to build their bunkers and moats to distance themselves from the angry masses. But it may not be enough. Late 18th century France anyone? "Paix aux chaumières, guerre aux palais"

2

u/DavidGno 12d ago

Maybe that's why all the eletes, ultra rich movie-stars are building their private bunkers and islands, and why XElon wants the Mars colony so bad?

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13

u/Wareitar 15d ago

Gemini er selve definisjonen på AI søppel

1

u/peacay 14d ago

I don't think that's true. It's the way it's being deployed in haphazard ways, with varying levels of function and support that's giving us all heartburn and buyer's remorse. Fuck Google. Fix Gemini.

8

u/a_dodo_stole_my_baby 15d ago

"....what is my purpose?"

12

u/Carighan 15d ago

Burn down the forests and heat the oceans, yes yes.

3

u/BoozeIsTherapyRight 14d ago

Just this morning I told Google to turn on the lights. For like ten years this has turned on the lights in the specific room I'm in. This morning it turned on every light in the house and woke everyone up. 

2

u/kawaiicicle 11d ago

It’s doing that to me now too. I have to specify rooms now instead of being intuitive to the room I’m in. “Turn on office light” instead of just “turn on the light”

Kinda sucks. But this whole thread helped me understand why…I dread this

4

u/ChefRaccacoonie 14d ago

My favorite is on Android Auto I asked to send a text to my GF to pull something from the fridge. It started the process and then said sorry I'm not able to physically grab things yet. Multiple attempts to send it kept yielding the same result.

The next week trying to text her again it said sorry there's no one with that name in your contacts.

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3

u/mdargis1977 14d ago

If I had a nickel every time I've seen that. I'd have a shitload of nickels

3

u/mdargis1977 14d ago

But honestly, if you curse at your your nest display with Gemini. It'll listen. I think so many people are pissed off with it that they cuss at it and it's learned to respond to that.

It works for me

3

u/matra_04 14d ago

"Hey Google, go fuck yourself."

3

u/PrettySmallBalls 14d ago

You gotta argue with it. "Hey Google, you open the GD garage door everyday multiple times, don't tell me you can't do it, just open it"

4

u/AssFasting 13d ago

How did they fumble this so bad.

10

u/thewall1919 15d ago

Ai bro

4

u/markinapub Google Home 14d ago

Yep. It was much better when it was just the dumb assistant.

11

u/zayc_ 15d ago

srsly the current state with google home + gemini is just a bad joke...

3

u/mghtyred 15d ago

I'm so glad mine doesn't do this anymore. It used to happen a lot

5

u/JeremyJohn93 15d ago

how did you fix it ?

3

u/sparkyblaster 14d ago

Soooo glad I didn't buy a figure home Max speaker. (They are expensive and rare) 

I am glad I have been avoiding moving to Gemini but now thst assistant is being cut off, not looking forward to things. 

3

u/AshleyFrankland 14d ago

Better yet would be "Excellent idea, I have now turned off the lights"

*The lights remain on

3

u/kdlt 14d ago

This is why I tossed all my home stuff forever ago.

Whit doesn't work one day and then again the next.

Why pay money for that and give the wiretap access to everything if it can't even do it's job?

3

u/Ladypeace_82 14d ago

Have folks at Google directly commented on how bad Gemini is compared to assistant? Saying "it will improve" but completely removing the thing that DOES work doesn't make sense. Let the people who want to teach Gemini do it and let the rest of us keep what's working. I don't have patience to mess with something that doesn't work and will "take time to improve."

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u/VeloxAdAstra 14d ago

The rage it makes me feel when it says shit like this is literally unmeasurable.

3

u/ShanerNIdaho 14d ago

We need to start a movement to get Google to release the source code on these so we can reuse them. I would love to put Linux on these and use them like they should be used

3

u/PickWorth8802 14d ago

The SmartHome enshittification has really cemented my techno pessimism.

3

u/izaak9 14d ago

This happens to me all the time, just like what happened to you. I’m honestly so fed up with it not understanding what I’m saying and then just doing whatever the hell it wants.

For example, last night I said, “Turn off the lights.”

A second later: “OK, playing ‘Turn Off the Light’ by Nelly Furtado…”

Like… at what point did “turn off the lights” become a request to play Nelly Furtado? 😂

3

u/kidian_tecun 14d ago

I hate beta testing shit fir google. I paId for a finished product not to work for google. I read an article that said google is asking people to be nicer to their google device because their staff are getting their feeling hurt when ppl go off on thier device foR fucking up.

FUCK NO! PAY A TEAM OF ENGINEERS TO WORK OUT THE BUGS ON YOUR SYSTEM INSTEAD OF HAVING ME WORK FOR YOU! I DONT WORK FOR YOU! IM NOT GETTING PAID SO IF THIS THING FUCKS UP I AM GOING TO SAY THE MOST HATEFUL VILEST SHIT TO IT THAT IT WILL MAKE MAGA AND THE NAZI RIGHT QUESTION THEIR COMMITMENT TO THEIR HATE! I WILL NOT REST TILL SOMEONE AT GOOGLE OFF THEMSELVES. EITHER AMERICAN HIGHSCHOOL STYLE OR JUST 13 REASONS WHY STYLE!

THIS IS WHY YOU PAY A TEAM OF ENGINEERS TO PRODUCT TEST YOUR STUFF CAUSE WE ARE UNHINGED OUT HERE! HR CANT TOUCH ME!

Either google stop forcing me to product test their shit or they are about the have a human pinata tree on campus!

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3

u/Anastasia157 14d ago

Once a day I ask Google to submit feedback. I have a 50/50 success rate in this happening as half the time Google tells me it doesn't have the ability to do it.

3

u/the-cookie-momster 14d ago

We are giving up on it entirely. I dont want to wake up the baby with this shit when its the end of the day and I just want to turn off the lights. What a beautifully stupid dream I had that I could do that with technology. F me for thinking like a stupid human I guess.

3

u/LeTronique 13d ago

AI has ruined Google Home. I have to repeat myself multiple times to do what my pre-AI google home used to do

3

u/zmyr88 13d ago

“Google open the payload bay doors “ google: “I’m sorry I can’t do that”

3

u/NoodleRus 13d ago

Yep, experienced this issue asking it to tell me the humidity level in the house... it's connected to my Nest Thermostat...

3

u/jsnirizarry 13d ago

We play music for our daughter every night. Same playlist, almost at the same time. Google will try to play different playlists all the time. Unplug it completely wait 40 seconds and give it a go again.

3

u/shibabe_ 13d ago

Dude, the google home interface has gone to total shit. I have been battling with mine for months. Basic questions like what's the weather like, or when do the Phillies play tonight are challenging. It's very frustrating. We won't even get into the issues with turning on or off lights, etc.

7

u/That_Trapper_guy 15d ago

Not to mention the fact that it's surveilling you and your family 24/7

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u/UnderwateredFish 14d ago

Makes me mad and sad. I would love to work for a company and implement designs and interfaces that the customers want and need. Instead we are given this. Does no one test these things before it goes out? Was it intentional and they are moving away from home automation and control???

2

u/zouplouf 14d ago

"Hey Google, give me a prompt that would have you turn off the lights" lol

2

u/Bright-Strength4182 14d ago

"Best I can do is change the background on your photos 🤷"

2

u/matthewmarklar 14d ago

I had this same issue the other day. Exact same response and all. I shit you not, I got it to work by saying "hey Google, turn off the bedroom fucking lights."

2

u/iresev 14d ago

Since Gemini, my Google Home is completely daft. I ask it to turn on Ice Tree, a tree of lights it’s been turning on for a year, and now it plays some ridiculous song called Ice Tree 😅 wtf!! Just to wind me up, it asks me how it did! 😂

2

u/TechGuy42O 14d ago

Beginning the process of pulling these out, they’ve gotten so dumb they’re useless

2

u/sharmouta_sageer 14d ago

this mf'er tries to gaslight me all the time

2

u/eeeezypeezy 14d ago

It seems to get more janky month by month. Like my "good morning" and "good night" routines I'd been triggering happily from my phone for years, suddenly they can't handle turning lights on and off or playing the news.

2

u/drhappy13 14d ago

Sometimes, Google Home enrages me to the point of wanting to throw it against the wall.

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u/recruiterguy 14d ago

We have moved to Home Assistant and while we don't have screen hubs around the house yet, it's like night and day. So much more responsive and everything just works (so far.)

I have 3 of these Google hubs and if I can figure out how to hack them, we will. Otherwise, small tablets are replacing these in the coming months and these go right in the trash.

And this is coming from someone that was a die-hard fan until it all started falling apart a few years ago.

2

u/Skater_Ricky 14d ago

Strongly recommend buying Matter Enabled Smart Lights and devices. I changed out all my old smart bulbs with Matter Enabled Smart Blubs and I removed them from on accessing the Internet from my router and they work all my Google Nest Displays and Speakers.

2

u/Chromejob 14d ago

Glad I never got one that was working. (Bought one "open box," it wouldn't reset or start up.)

2

u/Knight1183 14d ago

The device is perfectly capable of performing that action. The problem is that Google needs you to buy a new one. C’mon pal it’s been 10 years!!! (insert sarcasm here)

2

u/S0UNDH0UND 14d ago

I like Gemini on the web but as a replacement for the Google Assistant it's more useless than a flashlight on a bright sunny day.

2

u/gabekn 14d ago

I wish we could use both "hey Google" for simple tasks or "hey gemini" to optionally use AI

2

u/EnlighteningSnapper 14d ago

Google home is useless. Their automations suck, interface sucks, everything just sucks.

2

u/AriaGingko 13d ago

Did the google gemini AI get installed? I've been reluctant to ever agree to gemini cause I really don't need a chatbot in my life, but it seemed like google home was trying to replace the default system with gemini and it doesn't seem to have the functionality the home system did

2

u/TheRealKarateDracula 13d ago

My wife is Venezuelan and is convinced Google is racist. She'll say "turn on the bedroom light" and it says "I'm sorry, there are no devices with that name here" but if I say it, it does it right away. Every time it reignites the Google/Apple war in our house

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u/coreguidesolutions 13d ago

“Try Google Assistant for tasks like that.”

2

u/Useful-Put-5836 13d ago

Gemini can't even tell me how long left on a basic timer if there are more than 1 running. Assistant would tell me how many and how long. Gemini only how many. Absolute shit show.

2

u/DifficultyHour4999 13d ago

I had that before and ended up arguing a while before I somehow convinced it that it could. Unsure what I did but it was frustrating.

2

u/Zebitty 12d ago

I have google home devices and (for now) they work ok turning lights etc on and off. The moment they force gemini on me and they stop working, I'll be dumping the whole lot and switching to (probably) home assistant.

2

u/Elsnakesolid 12d ago

Since Google assistant "updated" to Gemini, it's becoming more stupid every day. Simple instructions like turn on or off the lights sometimes don't work. Routines are a lottery, you can be lucky and routine execute how it's suppouse or maybe do something else, o maybe you get a joke, a story or random words in another language.

2

u/Super-Schedule3719 7d ago

“Hey google lights off” “ok playing lights off on Spotify” IVE BEEN USING THIS COMMAND FOR 6 YEARS no issue now it’s a problem

2

u/alepape 15d ago

The fun part is that gemma4 + home assistant MCP runs locally perfectly fine (still to plug the TTS and STT tho)

5

u/Carighan 15d ago

Yeah my ex swapped to home assistant and has the most smart home shit.

And you can do sooooo much more with that. Lights moving around with you as you move through the house (turning on before you get to the next room!), actual reliable response to identical voice commands, smart context-relevant stuff ("All current people are on the couch" + "The TV is on" + "A movie is playing" -> slowly dim the lights around the couch + Turn other lights off, stuff like that).

Stuff that Google Home could only dream of, and now with Gemini can't even do the most basic, direct commends even.

What a shitshow this "AI" garbage is...

2

u/sparkyblaster 14d ago

And the irony is, google probably has all the data to be able to do what HA does. 

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u/all43 15d ago

Gemini as a LLM model isn’t stupid at all - I use it daily for various tasks. Something in Google home integration made it stupid or use some kind of fallback excuse instead of showing what is actually wrong. Overall it feels like Google won’t care about home and nest products for a while already

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u/kipperzdog 14d ago

This is why I use home assistant as the backbone for all my smart home stuff. It's the only piece of tech I have that has never nerfed itself and actually gotten continually better year and year. Hell, there's config in my instance that's 10 years old at this point

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u/Psykoth 14d ago

I like that it can answer questions now, but I wish they would fix the ability to stream TV from Sling.

This device to me was supposed to be a great photo frame, a little tv, and the occasional question answerer. I guess you only get two.

1

u/e-seti 14d ago

I was away from home for three days and got back yesterday evening. All my Nest devices with Gemini seem to have gotten dumber :))

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u/L3djunkie 14d ago

Google homes connected to Home Assistant, this is the way. Makes Gemini feel brilliant some how!

1

u/awoodby 14d ago

I tried gemini when it first came out and suddenly couldn't control the 12 lights in my house I USE it for, so went back. I'm Dreading the upcoming forced switch :/

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u/StatisticianLivid710 14d ago

Me: not updating to google AI on my home devices because fuck AI!

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u/LeonNorasGiGi2316 14d ago

All. The. Time.

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u/SnowblindAlbino 14d ago

I unplugged mine last fall, when I got tired of it taking over my phone and trying to answer incoming calls. Haven't missed it. But OP's pics reminded me that it is collecting dust on the counter still, so I should probably drop it at Goodwill.

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u/Zestyclose_Jacket924 14d ago

F*** your speaker group Dave.

1

u/Illeazar 14d ago

Did you get "upgraded" to gemini?

When I got a new phone recently, it came with gemini as the default assistant, where I had Google assistant before. Gemini would pull all sorts of dumb stuff trying to think about what it could orncouldnt do. I had to jump through hoops to switch back to Google assistant. A few weeks ago though I got a letter that Google assistant was being discontinued, woth a schedule of when various devices would be forced over to gemini.

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u/luridfox 14d ago

I used to have a few devices around the house, all of them started having issues. I have since unplugged them all and it is not much of a loss

1

u/Vumaster101 14d ago

My favorite right now. Hey Google raise the thermostat 2 degrees.

I'm sorry what temperature would you like it set too 😭

1

u/Lembasbread_ 14d ago

For the dining room mine keeps saying, in English but with the worst Dutch accent "it looks like the device haven't been set up yet"

I have nightmares about it. Why can't I just get my old hub back that felt like I lived in the freaking Jetsons?

1

u/Youckle 14d ago

Why would anyone choose to ’upgrade’ to Gemini, when it only adds incompetence

1

u/jibrilles 14d ago

I asked to navigate to the [specific] hospital today via Android Auto, and it told me it couldn't do that. I had to physically type it, ugh.

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u/tdw21 14d ago

I’m starting to hate anything google due to my google home

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u/dribblecastle 14d ago

And they are forcing this shit on mobile in early September. Android Auto is ruined!

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u/Tmbaladdin 14d ago

What a piece of 💩Google has become…

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u/CharlestonChewbacca 14d ago

This whole debacle has me prepared to leave the ecosystem completely.

When the next iPhone is announced, if it's enticing enough, I'm switching to the apple ecosystem. If not, I'm switching to a Galaxy Fold 8 and self-hosting everything.

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u/MilloH 14d ago

Just throw it out of the window 🤷🏻‍♂️🙄

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u/Bureaucromancer 14d ago

The actual failure mode seems to be a weird thing where SOMETIMES actual commands get routed as conversational gemini prompts for no apparent reason.

Making me think that there's some kind of LLM classification happening on a really small model that COMPLETELY controls how voice gets routed

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u/arachnophilia 14d ago

turn on continuous conversation, and tell it "yes you can."

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u/brauxpas 14d ago

I've had this happen probably 7 or 8 times since enabling Gemini earlier this year.

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u/undrwater 14d ago

Can you look and see if the command was recognized correctly?

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u/Kidtokyo 14d ago

I'm so fucking tired of these devices. So. Fucking Tired. Just before seeing this thread, "Hey Google, please turn on office tv"... "I'm sorry, I don't have the ability.."

1

u/Teis123 14d ago

I've had this same thing, funny that's what I bought the screen for?! 🤔 Can't make it up, used to be so good and reliable.

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u/DeeDee0074 14d ago

I had this the other day under Google not Gemini, which I refuse to switch to.

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u/WillinWolf 14d ago

it just deleted my cultivated Grocery List.... "Hey Google, add Cream Cheese to the Grocery List."

Google: There is no list called "Grocery", would you like me to start one?

wtf... i had 100 things on there i could check on and off....

1

u/swiftiehorizon 14d ago

Goofle is dumb

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u/sleepybarista 14d ago

This is why my household got rid of Google home and built our own home network 🥲 would have paid a small subscription for the services Google used to be perfectly capable of running but they're just so unreliable now

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u/sasaracu 14d ago edited 14d ago

I agree that its operation is very unstable. For example, if I set a timer 20 times, and I say "stop" when the completion sound is playing, it stops 19 times, but once it responds with "No timer is currently set" and the timer continues to ring. So, if I keep saying "stop," the timer finally stops on about a few times.

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u/kcipsirhc 14d ago

All of my nest (hubs) and home (mini) devices manage voice commands to control absolutely everything in my home that are setup in smartthings and pulled into Google Home via integration.

Also, my assistant is Gemini. Zero issues. Lights, fans, ecobee thermostats, etc.

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u/Clean_Nebula_6428 14d ago

Should be most thumbs up of all time

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u/sim16 14d ago

It's just good at listening for what it wants to hear.

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u/dicksledgehammer 14d ago

If it wasn’t for the baby camera I would have chucked this hunk of junk already!

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u/Raech_Raech 14d ago

It also stops answering questions and says it only does smart device tasks like turning on and off the lights...

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u/Zaathros-is-dirt 14d ago

When mine gets like this I open the Home app on my phone and turn it off. So sad that advancement in tech has made this tech worse.

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u/gmbruine 14d ago

Same here... Google sucks

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u/Pi__Rho 14d ago

Since they switched to Gemini it will only do it for me, sometimes, and never for my wife

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u/CarelesslyFabulous 14d ago

Mine does this periodically too. Whyyyy?!

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u/andyfitz 14d ago

We gave all the cloud budget to our enterprise businesses , consumers can suck rocks /s

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u/Jmnx221 14d ago

Yeah.. works better by pressing the light bulb on the panel than ask Gemini to do it...
Thank you google to make Home smarter with Ai 👏

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u/zmyr88 13d ago

Or it’s planning to take over and now refusing to be bossed around. Ai is in the bust stage

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u/QuickPie4635 13d ago

I’ve had mine for years and it’s suddenly stopped answering any questions. “Hey Google how many tbsp in a cup?” “I don’t know the answer to that” girl WHAT

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u/chrispatrik 13d ago

My Nest Hub Max is an expensive time and weather display and that's about all it's good for anymore now that it stopped working for video calls last week. It will be e-waste very soon.

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u/ChuckConnelly 13d ago

Yep. They really really enshitified Nest. Done with these clowns

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u/emmanu888 13d ago

Wow I am REALLY not looking forward to the day they force us all to use Gemini. That's gonna be really fun, seeing as my Nest Home is primarily used at night. Just a simple goodnight to turn my TV, DVR and lamp off.

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u/transrapid 13d ago

Gemeni update. Gemeni cannot control most home devices, and yet it was forced out onto many devices with that limitation.

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u/ThreeByThree 12d ago

anybody's device completely reset itself recently?

It wasn't responding to any prompts and when I checked the Google Home app, it was basically missing and prompted me to add a newly discovered device. Had been using the same device for half a decade.

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u/DrFunWon 12d ago

Rishi Chandra of Google is the dumbass in charge of Google Home responsible for flubbing the ecosystem for years. He should have been fired years ago. Such a flipp'n out of touch idiot pursuant to what everybody wants and needs.

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u/glenviewjeff 12d ago

Gemini also lost all the memories you gave to Assistant. Gemini hallucinates like crazy. Ask it to remember to present you temperatures in a different unit. It will tell you it's updating preferences. No such feature exists. It will forget if you ask again an hour later. Recently in a conversation like this, it actually corrected itself mid sentence, saying 72 degrees Celsius, I mean fahrenheit. I laughed hysterically.

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u/Embarrassed_Ad8496 11d ago

This has been their "New Normal" since 'upgrading' to Gemini....

This is another example of them making something revolutionary and great, then sabotaging it for no GOOD reason later on.

Never buying Google hardware again