Even back when Gemini was simply called Bard, we had the notion that Google Assistant was on life support. Now that Google has massaged Gemini into Android’s very core, we know that it will sunset Assistant sooner or later. Well, Android 16 might make Gemini much more of an assistant than Google Assistant.

Google is working on a new API for Android 16 that lets system apps perform actions on behalf of users inside applications. This new API is guarded by a permission that’ll be granted to the default assistant app, ie. Gemini on new Android devices.

Google released the first Android 16 developer preview earlier this week and keen-eyed observers are already uncovering interesting tidbits, including one that hints about a much more useful future for Google’s AI assistant.

When Google Gemini was first announced at the end of 2023, it came with a lot of promises. Unfortunately, our hopes were not met when it was released to the masses, and it didnt c