Gemini is Google’s response to ChatGPT. In my experience, the free version is clunky compared to ChatGPT. Yet, being familiar with prompting Gemini is crucial because Gemini is becoming integrated within Google’s Workspace. That means asking Gemini to pull your information from all of Google’s apps into one prompt. In this week’s “Monday’s Prompt,”  we’re testing the free version of Gemini. We won’t be testing how well Gemini’s integration works within Google’s Workspace; that’s for a later time.

Before that integration becomes the norm within Google’s Workspace let’s pop the hood on the free version of Gemini with this prompt:

“Provide a daily task list that prioritizes the most important tasks along with the results I must expect for my online small business. Then, give suggestions on how to achieve those results within a 40-hour work week, over a month period.”

Using Gemini

As you can see in the video above, a major flaw for Gemini is that it needs detailed prompting to get the response you’re looking for. Even after those detailed prompts, it needed to be reminded to provide suggestions within a set 40-hour work week from 9-5. It was able to follow up with a much better response after the revision prompt was more specific.

Other features include:

  • More options, with up to three different responses being seen as drafts.
  • Editing within Gemini’s response.
  • Linking Gemini’s suggestions to companies that provide a solution to your problem.

Gemini’s strength is that it needs to be prompted with detail and revised with detail. It’s designed this way to combat the generative AI from giving misinformation or inaccurate information. However, like all generative AI, it doesn’t do well without being given context. As you saw in the video, don’t assume it knows what a 40-hour work week means to someone when they say 9-5.

All in all, Gemini is Google’s answer to ChatGPT. The company hasn’t quite made the generative AI to be as fluid and smooth as ChatGPT. What it does well is admit when it’s unable to complete a prompt because of accuracy, or possible inaccurate information. It also links to websites, provides suggestions for companies to use within its response, and allows for direct editing of its responses.

I recommend using Gemini if you want to bring in websites or look within your search history. Just remember to show your work by saving your prompts, and make sure those prompts are detailed and specific.