What is Google Gemini (formerly Bard)? Everything you need to know

In this article, we give you the answers to the most recent questions surrounding Google Gemini, one of the strongest competitors to well-known AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat ). The chatbot manages to hold its own against its competitors in some areas – or even surpass them.

What can Google Gemini (formerly Bard) do?

Like ChatGPT, Gemini is a chatbot that can conduct human-like dialogues and create its own original texts. It owes its former name, Bard, to the English word for ‘poet’ or ‘bard’. Gemini is also based on its own anguage model. It can answer questions by drawing on an extensive database. From cooking recipes to sophisticated programming tasks, there are no limitations.

Gemini is increasingly evolving into a personal assistant that goes beyond pure dialogue functions. Since June 2025, Scheduled Actions have made it possible to define recurring or one-off tasks in advance. For example, daily summaries of calendars, emails and tasks or regularly occurring event notifications can be automatically retrieved at the desired time. Gemini executes these tasks independently, but only for paying users of the Pro and Ultra plans and for selected Google Workspace customers in the business and education sectors.

Google Gemini is therefore a powerful, AI-powered research and creative tool that answers questions in detail, analyses extensive content and combines text, image and video information. This makes manual research of sources much easier.

Gemini 3: Google's latest AI Milestone

Until now, Google has followed an annual cycle for major AI updates, with Gemini 1 being introduced at the end of 2023 and Gemini 2 at the end of 2024. This suggests that Gemini 3 could be released around the end of 2025.

Rumours about Gemini 3 Pro include:

• Extended context windows: Speculation suggests a context window of up to 1.5 million tokens for processing longer texts and more complex tasks (reddit)
• Integrated deep thinking functionality: Instead of using the ‘Deep Think’ model, direct deep thinking is to be behind the use of Gemini by default (Update)
• Optimised performance: An improved mixture-of-experts architecture is said to enable dynamic selection of experts for specific tasks, i.e. instead of a single neural network handling all tasks on its own, a MoE model consisting of several ‘experts’ is available (Update)

‍

This information is currently based solely on rumors and leaks, here has been no official confirmation from Google as of now.

How does Google Gemini (formerly Bard) work?

The original goal of Google Gemini

The original goal of introducing Google's chatbot was to supplement the knowledge graph cards that appear for simple questions. While Knowledge Graph cards can provide definitions of terms, overviews of people, or places, the answers from Bard (now Gemini) were intended for what Google calls NORA questions: questions without a correct answer. The previous launch of the comparable chatbot ChatGPT was certainly not entirely incidental to the introduction of Google Bard (now Gemini).

How Gemini works

Thanks to an LLM, Google Gemini is able to capture both questions and their context. In this way, Gemini is able to analyze extensive text data sets and precisely predict which word comes next. Since the Gemini model is based on data sets with dialogs, it is also able to understand nuances and colloquial language (keyword: sentiment analysis), which often cause difficulties for search engines. Gemini then draws on information from the Internet to construct an answer, which is then converted into the form of a conversational response as you would expect from a human interlocutor. The overall goal of Bard and all AI chatbots is to provide high-quality answers.

The Gemini update from Google Bard (Gemini) December 2023

The language model ‘Google Gemini’, introduced in December 2023, represents a major advance, particularly in relation to its competitor ChatGPT. What makes this multimodal AI model special is its architecture: while some other AIs, such as ChatGPT, consist of many different models that enable text, images, audio and code to be processed, Google Gemini (formerly Google Bard) is holistically multimodal from the ground up and consists of a single system. With such a model, Gemini (formerly Google Bard) can set itself apart from competing AIs such as ChatGPT – however, it is not a unique selling point on the market, as there are already other companies with holistic multimodal models.

The renaming of Bard to Gemini (February 2024)

The chatbot was previously known as Bard, while the underlying language model was called LaMDA. Since February 2024, both the chatbot and the language model have been renamed Gemini. The renaming was intended to eliminate confusion between the chatbot and the model. Gemini is now the uniform name for the entire platform and its AI models.

To learn more about the model behind the chatbot, find detailed information in the article Google Gemini: An overview of Google's LLM.

What is the status of Google Gemini usage in Germany?

The free basic version of Google Gemini is available in numerous countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, which includes Germany. In addition, the chatbot now supports more than 40 different languages, including German. Gemini can understand German queries and, for the most part, respond in German. However, the system still occasionally deviates and responds in English. The service can therefore be used throughout the DACH region, but its use is currently still limited: some functions have been announced but have not yet been fully rolled out or made available, e.g. certain extensions or platform integrations. The paid version called Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced) was long only available in English, but has been available in German since May 2024. The mobile Gemini app for Android, initially only available in the US, has also been available in Germany since June 2024. A mobile app for iOS is also available.

Google Gemini vs. ChatGPT: What are the differences?

Even though ChatGPT and Google Gemini appear very similar at first glance, there are still differences:

This report contains the latest statistics on user numbers. Both chatbots work on the basis of natural language processing, whereby users ask questions and the chatbots generate human-like responses. The main differences between Google Gemini and ChatGPT lie in the sources from which they obtain information, as well as in their capabilities and areas of application.

1. The solutions from Google and OpenAI (ChatGPT) are based on different language models. ChatGPT uses the GPT-5 and GPT-4.1 models, which have been trained on large amounts of text from the web, books, forums and scientific articles. Google uses its own model, formerly LaMDA, now Gemini, which can access information from Google services and the internet in real time.
2. The quality of the responses also differs depending on the area of application: Gemini often provides clearly structured and easy-to-read responses, while ChatGPT impresses with fluent and intelligent responses, especially when it comes to creative tasks such as writing poetry or complex texts.
3. Previously, Gemini differed from ChatGPT primarily in its access to current internet information, while the free version of ChatGPT only used data up to 2023. Now, both systems can access current information, so this difference has largely been eliminated.

In fact, Gemini 2.5 from Google Gemini can process up to one million tokens in one go, allowing it to capture significantly more information at once than GPT-4 and even the new GPT-4o, which supports 128,000 tokens. This represents a significant advance in Gemini's ability to understand and analyze long texts.

How can I use Google Gemini in the UK?

Using the free Pro version of Google Gemini

• Go to the URL gemini.google.com upon
• The “Try Gemini” button appears and Google Gemini can now be tested
• You need to log into your Google account to use Google Gemini
• The operation is similar to ChatGPT — after entering, the so-called “prompt”, you will receive human-like answers based on your request

With Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced), users gain access to the latest Gemini models, a context window of up to one million tokens, advanced search functions, multimedia generation including image and video creation, and access to AI tools such as NotebookLM and Whisk.

How does logging in to Google Gemini work?

To sign in to Google Gemini, simply follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Gemini website in your browser (gemini.google.com).
2. Click on the “Sign In” button at the bottom right.
3. Enter your email address or phone number that's associated with your Google account.
   

Is Google Gemini (formerly Bard) free?

Google Gemini is basically free to use. All you need is a Google account to sign up and use the basic features.

There is also a paid version called Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced), which offers access to the currently most powerful model Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental), an extended context window of up to one million tokens, multimedia generation and additional AI tools such as NotebookLM or Whisk. The subscription currently costs £21.99 per month and includes at least 2 terabytes of storage.

Since March 2025, Gemini 2.5 Pro has also been available for free on a limited basis, but with restricted features such as a smaller context window and lower usage limits.

Anyone who wants to try Google AI Pro can do so for one month; the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled in time. Students also have the option to use Google AI Pro for free until the end of the 2026 academic year. Students also have the option to use Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced) for free until the end of the 2026 academic year.

What should you not share with Google Gemini?

You should not share any personal or sensitive information with Google Gemini. The reason is that Google collects and stores personal data in order to AI to improve. In the worst case scenario, this data can be viewed by third parties.

Privacy policies are usually designed in such a way that companies only collect data that users actively provide. However, a new policy allows Google to use any information that people publicly post online.

To avoid this, you can go to the website myactivity.google.com  and switch the slider to “Off” under “Gemini Activities.” As a result, your future conversations are no longer saved and can no longer be viewed by human reviewers. It is also advisable if you use Google services to activate incognito or private browsing mode. This is because the storage of confidential data by Google cannot be completely ruled out only by deactivating the button. It is therefore advisable to be careful when entering sensitive information.

Conclusion: Google Gemini as a helpful supplementary research tool

Google Gemini is a versatile AI-powered assistant that is ideal for research, automation, creative work and exploratory experimentation. This is particularly due to its multimodality and large context window. Gemini delivers fast results and supports experimental work processes, but as with all chatbots, Gemini does not always provide correct or complete answers. It is recommended that you critically review the information provided, especially if it is used for important decisions or external publications.

Both systems now provide up-to-date information from the internet, but differ in their integration with platforms and tools: Gemini is deeply integrated into Google Workspace, Chrome and other Google services, while ChatGPT works via plugins and API connections.

Despite their advanced features, Gemini and similar chatbots are less suitable for use in professional customer communication  by companies. It is difficult to fully control the content, and aspects such as GDPR compliance, company guidelines or legally relevant requirements cannot be reliably implemented, making manual control or post-processing essential.

Try moinAI now and experience the future of customer communication in a secure and user-friendly way. In just four simple steps, you can create a chatbot prototype and get a first impression of the technology.

Want to See AI Agents in Action?

Try it now and create a free chatbot prototype for your use case.

Get Started Now

_{The information in this article is regularly updated to ensure accurate and truthful content.}