From increasing autonomy to telling stories or materializing memories: this is how Gemini AI helps society

Artificial intelligence (AI) not only seeks to improve productivity but, with the help of assistants such as Geminibecomes something closer, a daily support with real impact on people’s lives and the well-being of societywith uses ranging from gaining autonomy, to preserving memories and giving voice to stories that might otherwise be lost.

AI is currently conceived as a tool based on code and algorithms which, in some way, helps when carry out heavy tasks at worka automate tasks, streamline the process of searching for information or making decisions, all focused on the productivity.

However, Google considers this technology to be much more than algorithms and that, hand in hand with Geminiit is a way to improve people’s daily liveswhether breaking down barriers, preserving memory or giving voice to stories.

In a meeting with the press, Google Spain wanted to show up close how Gemini can help promote good in society, with three specific cases where AI is generating a real impact to improve the lives of users.

GEMINI TO GAIN AUTONOMY

The first of them shows first-hand how tools like Gemini Live can offer autonomy for people with visual disabilities. It is the case of Jonathan Armengolthe first blind gastronomic critic in Spain, who assures that the use of this type of technology “It is the closest thing to recovering sight“and regain their independence.

As he shared during the meeting, for Armengol the visual barriers of the physical environment have always been a challenge, forcing him to depend on external help for certain tasks. However, Gemini Live and your smartphone camera have become his best allies, always together with his guide dog Calo, achieving promote their autonomy on a daily basis.

Specifically, Gemini Live is based on a conversational experience advanced designed for Interact with AI fluidly and naturallysimilar to when talking to a person. Thus, it allows interruption during conversations and use real time screen sharing. In this way, the assistant can interpret what is being captured by the camera, and interact with the environment at the moment.

These conversational capabilities, together with the use of the camera and the interpretation of the environment, allow, with simple voice commands, Armengol can do everyday things like identify and compare the extraction date on breast milk bags for your baby, prepare recipes or research cooking techniques for your work.

This is because Gemini Live interprets your need and puts it in contextallowing make quick decisions that, otherwise, could not be carried out or would require external help. “Fortunately, AI has come to solve a lot of problems,” Armengol said, claiming that Gemini helps him finish his tasks sooner and enjoy much more free time with his family. “In the end being blind is not a limit. With the help of Calo and AI we see the future much more accessible“, he declared.

GEMINI AS AN ALLY TO TELL STORIES

On the other hand, Gemini can also help tell stories that deserve to be known and, furthermore, to connect between generations acting as a bridge of social understanding.

It is the case of Cristina and Maria that, hand in hand with the What Really Matters Foundationdedicated to spreading universal human values, and its project Your story really mattershave turned the experiences of older people into books to immortalize their values ​​and experiences.

Specifically, in her volunteer work, Cristina wrote the story of María’s life and captured it in a book titled Bailaswhich tells the testimony of her marriage to Amadeo, in a moving story.

To carry out this project, she conducted research and used interviews, photographs and personal experiences told by María herself. However, Cristina also went to Gemini as your assistant to shape all experiences counted.

As he explained during the meeting, he specifically used the Gemini Deep Research Featurefor organize, investigate and shape Mary’s testimony. This feature turns AI into an agent to conduct exhaustive, autonomous research on the web, browsing hundreds of sites, analyzing information, cross-referencing sources, and generating detailed reports in minutes.

In this way, Cristina was able to count on the work of an expert researcher to document the context of women like María in rural Spain in the 70s, giving real and detailed context to its story to help readers better understand the book’s narrative.

Additionally, you also used the Gems feature to create your own editor as a custom assistant, which transcribed the interviews and helped organize the content into chapters, give feedback, correct writing, and even suggest ideas for the title.

Likewise, in addition to helping to speed up the process, Cristina has also highlighted how the ability of AI to transcribe the interviews and capture all the details, allows her allowed him to be present in his conversations with Maríapromoting that work of accompanying people in processes of grief or unwanted lonelinesscreating a human relationship and connecting in a real way.

MATERIALIZE MEMORIES FOR REMINISCENCE THERAPIES

Finally, it has been shown how Gemini’s AI also has therapeutic capabilities, with work prepared by the Catalonia La Pedrera Foundation, that accompanies people in initial phases of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias through its Memory Strengthening program, whose objective is to improve their quality of life and emotional well-being, helping them maintain their abilities and autonomy for as long as possible.

Specifically, he participated in the meeting Marta Handenauerof Domestic Data Streamers, which is a design studio located in Barcelona that works at the intersection of data, community and technology with social impact, and that has collaborated with the foundation to create the project Synthetic Memories.

As Handenauer explained, this initiative uses the AI to create images of memories that were not documented and, thus, prevent them from falling into oblivion. Thus, they use these images in reminiscence therapies to help people who are facing neurodegenerative processes or such as early Alzheimer’s.

This is the case of Manel, a participant in the program, who, based on oral descriptions and through Gemini’s generative image AI, has helped reconstruct visual representations of their past. It is a completely collaborative and precise process to materialize your memories into images that look like photographs as faithfully as possible to reality.

During the process, Manel was able to view the images and validate them on a screen before printing them, turning this material into a valuable resource for your cognitive and emotional stimulation sessions.

“The moment the person sees the image generated, first on the screen, but then printed on paper, is like a feeling of emotional relief,” Handenauer said. “Of “Suddenly something that was in your head, that only existed there, takes shape and is tangible and you can share it.”

In this way, technology is put at the service of memory, helping to recover fragments of identity, preserve personal legacy and generate in the patient a feeling of connection, recognition and well-being.