Google has unveiled a significant update to its Gemini AI assistant, allowing users to perform complex tasks across multiple apps with a single voice command. This new capability, announced at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event, marks a major milestone in the development of conversational AI technology.

The update enables Gemini to carry out multimodal tasks, which involve interacting with multiple apps simultaneously. For instance, users can ask Gemini to find a dog-friendly Italian restaurant and send the information to a friend, or pull up their NFL team's upcoming games and add them to their calendar, all in a single prompt. This feature is built on top of Gemini's existing app extensions, which cover a range of Google apps and limited third-party options, including WhatsApp and Spotify.

Samsung Galaxy S25 users will also benefit from the integration of Samsung's own apps, including Samsung Calendar, Notes, Reminder, and Clock, into Gemini's multi-app support. However, other multi-extension prompts are available now to all Gemini users across the web, Android, and iOS.

In addition to the multi-app support, Gemini Live, the assistant's voice-based conversational mode, is also receiving an upgrade. Currently limited to the Galaxy S25 and S24 phones and Google's own Pixel 9 series, owners of these devices will be able to share images, files, and YouTube videos to the chat interface, asking Gemini for feedback and information. Google has also announced that Project Astra features like screen sharing and live video streaming will come to Gemini on Android in the coming months.

The update also marks a significant shift in Samsung's strategy, as the company has made Gemini the default virtual assistant on the new S25 phones, replacing its own Bixby assistant. While Bixby is still accessible on the phones, long-pressing the power button will now open up Gemini instead.

Google has also announced improvements to its Circle to Search feature, which will now be able to automatically recognize phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs, making it easier for users to interact with them. The AI Overviews in search results have also been expanded to work with more kinds of visual search results, increasing the probability that using Circle to Search on an image of a place, artwork, or object will generate an AI Overview in the results.

Finally, Google has announced changes that should make it easier to pair braille screen readers and hearing aids to Android devices, further expanding accessibility features on its platform.

The announcement of these new features comes alongside Samsung's launch of the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra at Galaxy Unpacked, as well as the reveal of a new Galaxy Watch for Kids mode on Samsung's Galaxy Watch 7 LTE, which adds kid-friendly apps and watchfaces plus improved parental controls.

Overall, the updates to Gemini and Circle to Search demonstrate Google's continued focus on developing more advanced and user-friendly AI features, which are likely to have a significant impact on the way users interact with their devices and access information.