Why Google’s Gemini Spark AI agent could be a game changer

Google’s Gemini Spark AI tool could be a game-changer for consumers wading into the world of agentic AI, according to technology experts.

Google announced the new tool — the internet giant’s answer to OpenClaw, the autonomous AI agent being hyped by tech enthusiasts and developers — this week during a rollout of new AI features that Google said can complete tasks for users. 

“There is a paradigm shift happening right now where AI is going from a chat interface to actually being able to do things for you,” Clarence Lee, a tech entrepreneur and visiting lecturer at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, told CBS News.  

Lee compared an AI agent like Gemini Spark to a personal assistant to whom you can assign tasks, such as composing emails, making restaurant reservations or booking hotels. “It’s like having a team that you can delegate things to,” he said. 

For an individual AI agent to offer optimal performance, it must understand its human users, said Karan Girotra, professor of operations, technology and innovation at Cornell University. 

“You give it an objective, and it takes actions to accomplish that on your behalf,” he told CBS News. “For it to be good, it needs intelligence, context and information relevant to those actions.”

That’s where Google could have an edge on competitors. Gemini Spark is integrated into Google’s widely used suite of digital tools, including Gmail and Google Calendar, giving the AI access to important contextual information about a user. 

“It knows more about you than many others because it connects to Gmail and other apps, so personal intelligence will come through in the agent,” Girotra said. 

What can Gemini Spark do?

Google on Tuesday said it is testing Gemini Spark this week and rolling it out to Google AI Ultra subscribers, who pay $100 a month for the highest level of access to its AI tools, next week. 

“Spark represents a big shift for Gemini, transforming it from an assistant that can answer your questions into an active partner that does real work on your behalf and under your direction,” Google said in a blog post. 

Gemini Spark syncs up with Gmail, Docs, Slides and other Google apps. With access to your inbox, it can comb through your emails and alert you to updates from your kids’ school, or remind you about key deadlines, Google said. The agent can also synthesize your meeting notes into a polished document highlighting key takeaways, Google said.

Gemini Spark can complete tasks outside Google’s ecosystem by connecting to external tools such as Instacart and OpenTable, according to the Alphabet-owned company. That enables users to ask Gemini Spark, for example, to make a dinner reservation or buy groceries. 

AI at your own risk

As always with technology, privacy could be a concern. The more tasks AI completes for people, the more information it can access — a potential risk as AI puts powerful new tools in the hands of hackers, or simply a magnet for advertisers. 

For instance, linking an agent with Instacart means it is learning about your food preferences, while letting it sift through your email could expose sensitive information. 

Google said Gemini Spark will need to obtain a user’s permission before executing “high-stakes actions like spending money or sending emails.”

Still, Cornell’s Lee advised moving gradually into the world of AI agents by initially entrusting them with low-level tasks.

“The first time you onboard an assistant, you don’t know how good they are, so you try them out a little bit before you hand over your credit card,” he said. “You might have them draft emails or create a grocery list, so I recommend that users start that way.”