The irritating but amusing irony of Google’s Gemini interface

Look, if you’ve read this column for long now, you know I’m extremely guarded with my enthusiasm for Gemini and the other similar large-language-model AI answer-bots.

Plain and simple, they just aren’t reliable as on-demand answer genies — despite being positioned as exactly that — and they’ve got a nasty habit of coughing up inaccurate info with an astonishing amount of confidence.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If something is inaccurate or unreliable even 10% of the time (and that’s being generous, in this instance), it’s useful precisely 0% of the time.

But that foundational flaw isn’t what I want to talk about today — ’cause the truth is that for all of their weaknesses as information-surfacing systems, Gemini and its brethren do offer some genuine utility when it comes to other, more clerical functions. And plenty of folks are finding ways to work ’em into their workflow with lower-level tasks such as sorting through data and formatting spreadsheets (to name just a couple quick examples).

Clearly, Google wants Gemini to become an indispensable part of our lives both professionally and personally, as evidenced by the way it’s Google+’ing the service into our beaks at every possible opportunity. For as useful as it can be in certain limited scenarios, though, I can’t help but think Google is shooting itself in the foot with the way it’s presenting Gemini — in what’s an almost shockingly obvious-seeming miss, especially when it comes to the kind of more mainstream, not-just-early-adopter embracing the company is clearly aiming to achieve.

Let me show ya what I mean.

[Get level-headed knowledge in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. Tips, insights, and other tasty treats await!]

Google’s Gemini interface puzzle

Right now, when you go to open up Gemini on Android on one of Google’s own Pixel devices, you’re greeted by a screen that looks a little somethin’ like this:

The Google Gemini full-screen interface, as seen on Android.JR Raphael, IDG

See that little tool-tip at the top? “More models available” — “choose the one that best fits my needs,” you say? Okay, cool. I can get on board on with that. Let’s see what’s available.

A quick tap on that top part of the screen, and….

Google’s Gemini model list, from the app’s Android interface.JR Raphael, IDG

What. The. Schmidt. Is. This.

To clarify, this is the standard Google Gemini experience — not any sort of beta or early access setup. This is what anyone who buys a new Pixel phone or Samsung Galaxy gadget gets when they activate what’s now their device’s default and prominently promoted assistant service. It’s also what anyone with any other Android device is now being pushed to use in place of the classic Google Assistant, with ever-increasing aggressiveness.

And I don’t think I can emphasize just how overwhelming of an interface is there and smacking you square in the peepers as soon as you take that step.

It’s not just on Android, either. You see the same selection when using Gemini on the web, too, maybe even with a more comically over-the-top appearance:

The Google Gemini interface in a desktop web browser.JR Raphael, IDG

Seriously — what reasonably normal person who doesn’t work within Google’s engineering department could possibly parse this? And who would want to?

Making sense of the Gemini model mess

For context, what we’re seeing here is a list of every different version of Gemini Google’s released over recent months. Gemini 2.0 is the current version, launched just last week. Within that 2.0 framework, you’ve got four different possibilities to ponder:

“2.0 Flash” — “for everyday tasks, more features”

“2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental” — “best for multi-step reasoning”

“2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental with apps” — “reasoning across YouTube, Maps & Search”

And “2.0 Pro Experimental” — “best for complex tasks”

Erm, right.

Beyond that muddled mess, you can also choose to go back to the older “1.5 Pro with Deep Research” version of Gemini for “in-depth answers” as well as the “1.5 Pro” or “1.5 Flash” model. Sure — why not, right?

Let me be as blunt as I can be about this: Mushy-brained of a mammal as I may be, I’m someone who closely follows Google and studies its services as part of my job. I’m more tech-savvy than most average animals (which isn’t saying much, I realize, but even so). And I’ve been immersed in this particular part of the tech universe for something like 7,947 years now.

And yet, I couldn’t even begin to tell you what all that stuff means, in plain English, or why you might want to pick one Gemini model over another. Heck, even after reading Google’s 4,000-character oeuvre about all the ins and outs of this latest Gemini 2.0 edition, I couldn’t explain to you what, exactly, makes it any different to use on a practical level compared to the earlier versions — nor, after spending quite a bit of time testing it, could I identify to you how it’s done things any better for me in any meaningful, measurable, and specific way.

And that, m’dear, is absolutely hilarious to me — because the entire point of Gemini is that it’s supposed to help us understand stuff and make our lives easier. But somehow, its very interface is so frickin’ complex and convoluted that we practically need another version of Gemini just to decipher it and help us understand which version of Gemini we’re supposed to use for what and why.

The irony is delightful. But all bemused chuckling aside, it’s also a pretty serious problem.

I mean, really: Imagine one of your less savvy co-workers — or maybe even your wacky cousin Winslow from West Virginia — following Google’s prompts to try out Gemini and then encountering this monstrous menu of mumbo-jumbo. There’s no way they’d be able to make heads or tails of it, and I’d be willing to wager they’d just close the thing once and for all the second they saw it.

And that’s to say nothing of what happens if they actually make it past that first impression and then realize they’ve gotta keep wading through that labyrinth and figuring out the appropriate Gemini version every single time they come up with a new task or question.

It just isn’t a good experience by any measure — but especially not for a service that promises to save you time and simplify your life. And that, suffice it to say, doesn’t exactly jibe with Google’s goal of getting everyone in the habit of using Gemini constantly across all of their devices.

Here’s the bottom line: Gemini isn’t a beta-level experimental feature anymore. It’s a prominent public service — perhaps even Google’s most prominent product at the moment. It’s now a core part of the company’s enterprise-focused Workspace offering. For Goog’s sake, there was even a Super Bowl ad about it. For individuals and companies alike, it’s clearly meant to be serious business — and yet, it still feels like a clunky developer play-space.

If Google really wants people to accept Gemini as an everyday tool for workplace productivity and beyond, they’ve gotta make it more accessible and aimed at actual regular-human use. It needs to be intuitive, approachable, and easy for anyone to understand. And you don’t need an accuracy-challenged AI assistant to tell you this isn’t the way to achieve that.

Get practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on all the latest Googley twists with my free Android Intelligence newsletter — three new things to know and try each Friday.