Gemini is in danger of going full Copilot

"A few years ago, that little sparkle icon started showing up in all of our Google apps. Gemini in your inbox! Gemini in your Google Drive! It was slow at first, and easy enough to tune out, but something has changed in the past few months. Gemini is creeping. It's showing up in all kinds of places at a relentless pace, and personally, it's starting to really cheese me off."

"I'm actually kind of a Gemini enjoyer, too. I used it to vibe-code an app to figure out which chores I have time for in a given day. I chat with Gemini on every Android phone I test, and I've started downloading the app on iPhones, too. That might put me in, like, the top 10 percent of Gemini users who don't work at Google. I've even come around to the AI overviews Google sticks on top of every search result these days."

"But everyone has their limit, and I think the newest Gemini intrusion into Google Docs is when I reached mine. It's a persistent sparkle icon at the bottom of the window, and if you make the mistake of mousing over it, you'll get a full-on toolbar with suggested prompts to get Gemini to write for you. Blogging is my craft, thank you very much,"

"Likewise, we will doubtlessly hear about all kinds of new Gemini features at this week's Google I/O conference, and I'm praying that Google has learned from Microsoft's mistakes as it unleashes them on our Workspace apps. Nobody likes a creep."

A sparkle icon for Gemini has expanded across Google apps, appearing in inbox, Drive, and other tools at an increasing pace. Early appearances were easy to ignore, but recent changes make the presence feel relentless. The growing “AI-everywhere” fatigue resembles reactions to Windows 11 Copilot shortcuts. The writer still uses Gemini for tasks like coding and everyday questions, and finds AI overviews reliable for low-stakes needs such as cooking and plant care. The limit is reached with a new Gemini intrusion in Google Docs: a persistent icon at the bottom of the window that reveals a toolbar of suggested prompts when hovered over.

Read at The Verge