How to use Gemini: Everything you need to know

While new artificial intelligence (AI) tools are hitting the headlines for their innovative ideas and interesting features, another product from Google is getting attention for a completely different reason. Bard's initial features have repeatedly fallen short. From its terrible debut to its full release, users found it difficult to get accurate information from the chatbot or even follow a conversation without hallucinating.

Google has since vastly improved the Bard tool and named it Gemini Pro in honor of the large-scale language model (LLM) on which it's based. Gemini provides useful conversations comparable to ChatGPT, can generate images, and offers seamless integration with Google Workspace.

Gemini is a great AI-powered chatbot. It is a productive AI tool that can generate any text - cover letters, homework assignments, computer code, Excel formulas, answers to questions, detailed translations, and more. Like ChatGPT, Gemini uses artificial intelligence to provide human-like responses in a dialog when you request them.

How to use Gemini

1. Visit the Gemini website and log in.

2. Familiarize yourself with the Gemini chat window: After logging in, you will be greeted by the chat window. Like other popular artificial intelligence chatbots, Gemini's chat window is optimized for user experience and easy navigation. When you open the Gemini window, you will see roughly the following:

• Main menu: You can hide the menu by clicking on the menu icon in the top left corner.
• New chat: you can uncheck the current chat and begin a new one using the option at the top of the menu on the left side of the window.
• Text Box: At the bottom of the screen, you can type a question or prompt and press Enter or send it by clicking the send button on the right side.
• Microphone: Click on the microphone in the text box to dictate your message.
• Upload Image: To the left of the text box is the upload image option, which allows you to attach an image and ask Gemini a question.
• Chat: Your chat with Gemini is displayed in the center of the chat window, and when the artificial intelligence chatbot answers your question, you can view different drafts of each answer and leave feedback by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. You can also update, select, copy to clipboard and message new answers.
• Listening: You can listen to Gemini's responses instead of reading them. Press speakerphone and Gemini will read your reply.
• Edit: In the chat window, there is an Edit button next to the question. Click it to edit the question and type a new answer. This is handy if you don't want to rewrite the question but want to clarify it.

3. Write your own request: At this point, you can begin using the Google Gemini chatbot. Type your query in the text box, send it to the chatbot, and see (or hear) its response.

4. Create an image with Gemini: Similar to Microsoft's ChatGPT Plus and Copilot, you can ask Gemini to create an image by typing a query and Gemini will create an image that will appear in the same chat window.

Answering questions

Gemini's AI chatbot uses Google search tools, so it can answer most questions. This feature isn't available in the free version of ChatGPT because it's limited until January 2022, but Gemini's AI answers can serve a variety of purposes, from providing recipes to helping you debug code. You can also learn how to write better ChatGPT prompts.

As with all AI chatbots, it's important that you don't provide Gemini with any personal information or private data that you don't want to share. Even if a generative EU tool claims to be personal, you should not use your personal data to verify that claim.

FAQ

Q: Does Gemini give incorrect answers?

A: Google has confirmed that Gemini is an error-prone experiment. Google updated Gemini to use Gemini Pro, the latest generation of LLM. After launching the AI chatbot with the original LaMDA, the company has updated it to PaLM 2 and greatly improved the user experience with integrations with Gmail, Maps, Lens, and more.

We've been testing Gemini frequently over the past year and found it to be a great AI chatbot that provides an experience very similar to ChatGPT and Copilot. It's worth noting that all AI chatbots can give false information, make mistakes or hallucinate.

Q: Does Gemini record my conversations?

A: Google doesn't record the entire conversation when you chat with a chatbot, but it does record the prompts and questions you ask. However, since Google is known as the world's best tracker, giving personal information to a chatbot is probably not the best option.

Q: Will Gemini replace Google's search engine?

A: Gemini and other artificial intelligence chatbots such as Bing Chat (also known as Co-Pilot) and ChatGPT can certainly replace search engines. These artificial intelligence tools learn from information found on the web to find answers to your questions, but instead of a list of sites where you can find answers, they generate text answers in a conversational format. The downside is that these answers are not always correct.

In some cases, people may use an AI chatbot instead of a Google search engine. In some cases, they are more functional than search engines, especially when the ability to ask additional questions or generate text is added.

Q: Is there a waiting list for Gemini?

A: For months after Gemini's launch, there was a waiting list, but at the Google I/O conference in May, Google announced that it was ending the waiting program and launching the new AI tool for more than 180 countries and regions. Gemini will now be available to everyone if they are logged into their Google account.