Google kills Bard, launches Gemini Advanced with Ultra 1.0

Google is finally cleaning up its confusing AI branding.

The search giant just officially retired the Bard name, rebranding its flagship conversational AI to Gemini. Along with the new identity comes the long-awaited debut of Gemini Ultra 1.0, accessible through a new paid tier called Gemini Advanced.

At the same time, Duet AI across Google Workspace and Google Cloud is also being renamed to Gemini. Basically, Google is ditching fragmented names and putting its entire AI ecosystem under one single roof.

Ultra 1.0 lands with a ChatGPT Plus match

The marquee development here is Ultra 1.0, Google’s largest and most capable model to date.

According to Google, Ultra 1.0 is the first AI model to outperform human experts on the MMLU benchmark, which tests knowledge and reasoning across 57 academic and professional subjects like physics, law, and ethics.

To access it, Google launched Gemini Advanced as part of a new Google One AI Premium plan priced at $19.99 per month. That matches OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus price tag dollar for dollar.

Subscribers get access to Ultra 1.0 for complex tasks like coding, tutoring, and business planning. They also receive standard Google One storage benefits, with Gemini integration rolling out soon inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet.

Mobile moves and Assistant integration

Google is also aggressively pushing Gemini onto smartphones.

A dedicated Gemini app is rolling out on Android in the U.S., while iOS users can access it via a toggle in the main Google app. On Android, Gemini can handle classic Google Assistant tasks like making phone calls, managing smart home devices, and reading info across Google services.

Other notable updates include expanding availability to Canada in English and French, plus embedding invisible SynthID watermarks on all AI-generated images to trace synthetic media.

Google noted that next-gen Gemini models are already in training, with more developer and enterprise updates scheduled for next week.

Why it matters

For power users and knowledge workers, Google One AI Premium might be the most practical subscription on the market right now.

If you already pay for cloud storage or live inside Google Docs and Gmail, getting a top-tier model alongside ecosystem integration for $19.99 per month offers far more immediate utility than a standalone chatbot interface.

For the AI landscape, Google is finally playing offense against OpenAI. By matching the $19.99 price point and leveraging its massive Workspace footprint, Google is attempting to turn the frontier model race into a distribution battle.

We think unifying everything under the Gemini brand was long overdue. Splitting user attention across Bard, Duet AI, and underlying models created unnecessary friction. Now Google has one clear consumer identity.

The real test will be whether Ultra 1.0 consistently holds up against GPT-4 in messy, real-world workflows rather than just sanitized academic benchmarks. Either way, the ball is firmly in OpenAI’s court.