Live demos can be tricky, even for a tech giant like Google. Even with lots of presentation prep and hundreds of hours in R&D for new tech, sometimes when the moment comes, it just doesn't work. This was something Google was reminded of yesterday when its first live demo in its Made by Google keynote address was, well, an epic fail.
The demo in question used a revamped mobile version of Google's AI, Gemini, which was certainly a focal point of the 2-hour keynote. But unlike in its developer conference Google I/O earlier this summer, the event also unveiled a slew of new hardware, including the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2.
The first live demo tried to get Gemini to scan and analyze a picture of Sabrina Carpenter's upcoming tour dates to see if she was coming to San Francisco. The presenter, Dave Citron, prefaced the trial by saying all of today's demos would be live and hoped the demo gods were with them today. They weren't. The live audience and thousands of virtual attendees watched in rapt as the demo failed.
After a second failed attempt and switching to a new device, Gemini finally worked. The rest of the event's live demos ran fairly smoothly. Glitches like these are pretty common with new AI tools, and if you can push past the secondhand embarrassment, live demo fails like this are a great reminder that tech is never perfect. Still, for an event that began with Google proclaiming it's in its "Gemini era," it was a rocky start.