When Bard launched back in 2023, the writing was on the wall for Google Assistant. The new-generation chatbot, which would eventually become one of the many masks of Gemini, hinted that the older virtual assistant simply wasn’t enough for the company and its users. Google wanted something fresh, backed by an LLM, that could do everything Assistant could and a whole lot more.
Fast-forward to October 2026, and I’m not sure Google’s grand designs have come to fruition. After Assistant was officially shut down last month, my colleague Adamya Sharma documented the reams of Gemini complaints still circulating around the web.