We ask Gemini and Alexa to track cats and give advice

For better or worse, Amazon Alexa and Google Home's smart voice assistants have been imbued with the powers of generative AI. The promise is that you can use natural language with your smart speaker to adjust your thermostat, lock the doors, and find out what your pets have been up to. The reality is smart home voice assistants seem to be going through an identity crisis. Senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy invites Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel onto his own podcast to compare notes on life with Alexa Plus vs. Gemini for Home. Further reading: ⁠GTA VI keeps leaking ahead of its gameplay premiere⁠ ⁠I bought DJI’s banned camera — it was cheap and easy⁠ ⁠Does giving a camera wings dodge the FCC’s drone ban?⁠ ⁠Meta glasses are a workplace menace⁠ ⁠Google’s Pet Memory forgot who my cats are⁠ ⁠I tasked Alexa Plus with tackling my to-do list — it was hit or miss⁠ ⁠With Alexa Plus, Amazon finally reinvents its best product⁠ ⁠How AI broke the smart home in 2025⁠ ⁠I let Gemini watch my family for the weekend — it got weird⁠ ⁠Google built a great smart speaker, but Gemini isn’t ready for it⁠ ⁠Jony Ive’s first OpenAI gadget is reportedly a hockey puck-sized smart speaker⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices