The ability to talk to Gemini hands-free is one of its greatest strengths for those who rarely have their hands free to type out what they’re searching for or wanting to know, but not everyone is fond of Google’s AI-powered tool that is integrated into nearly every major component of Google’s services and Pixel hardware.
For example, one Pixel user on Reddit has recently reported that Gemini responded to their conversation being had with a friend while driving, yet Gemini was unprovoked with the user not having activated it using the wake commands. The user said this prompted them to be confused as to what had happened, and “super creeped out,” wondering if it had been listening to all of their conversations up to that point. As it turns out, there is a perfectly good explanation for what was going on.
Talk to Gemini hands-free is a feature enabled by default that caused this scenario
While the original user who posted about the interaction was initially confused about what went down, there’s a good explanation for what happened. In Google Maps, there’s a feature that is enabled by default called ‘Talk to Gemini Hands-Free,’ and this is reportedly what caused the response unprompted.
It’s worth noting that the user had Google Maps open and was using the GPS for navigation when this interaction happened, with the Talk To Gemini Hands-Free feature enabled, which caused Gemini to respond. This feature is enabled in Google Maps and Waze by default as a way to allow for asking questions or making searches without taking your eyes off the road. Some comments mention that this was recently added to both apps, and that it would be easy to miss, as it wasn’t advertised.
You can turn this setting off if you don’t want to use hands-free interactions with Gemini while driving, though it is also stated that it could be re-enabled from a server-side update.
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