Google spotlights Gemini Omni AI model after crossing 1 billion users

Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.48% is riding a wave of momentum for its AI efforts this week, publishing an expert roundtable on its Gemini Omni model, celebrating a billion-user milestone for its Gemini assistant, and expanding the platform's ecosystem with new connected apps including Ticketmaster.

Experts Detail Gemini Omni

On Thursday, Google published an interview with three Google DeepMind team members — research scientist Mohammad Babaeizadeh, product manager Anish Nangia, and research engineer Sarah Xu — who discussed the vision behind Gemini Omni, the multimodal AI model first introduced at Google I/O in May. The model, which Google describes as capable of creating "anything from any input," launched initially as Gemini Omni Flash, focused on video generation and editing through natural conversation. Unlike traditional text-to-video tools, Omni accepts text, images, audio, and video as inputs while applying what Google calls "real-world knowledge" and physics understanding to produce more realistic outputs.mashable+3

The roundtable format represents an unusual communications strategy, letting researchers explain the technology rather than relying on a conventional product launch or benchmark release.

Gemini Hits One Billion Monthly Users

The expert spotlight comes days after Google announced on August 11 that the Gemini app surpassed one billion monthly active users, making it the 14th Google product to reach that threshold and what CEO Sundar Pichai called the company's fastest-growing product ever. The app grew from roughly 950 million users reported during the company's Q2 2026 earnings call to one billion in under a month. Apple users account for more than 100 million of those monthly active users. The milestone puts Gemini in the same territory as OpenAI's ChatGPT, which crossed one billion monthly users in June.blog+2

Ticketmaster and New Connected Apps

On Wednesday, Google announced a new slate of connected apps coming to Gemini, including Ticketmaster Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. ↗ 0.36%, which allows fans to search for concerts, sporting events, and other live events using natural language prompts. Users who connect the Ticketmaster app within Gemini can ask questions like "What concerts are happening in Chicago this weekend?" and be directed to the Ticketmaster marketplace with selected seats already loaded. The integration is currently available in English for U.S.-based users across Gemini on web, iOS, and Android. Other new connected apps announced include Granola, Otter.ai, Wix Wix.com Ltd. ↗ 15.39%, OpenTable Booking Holdings Inc. ↗ 0.96%, and GetYourGuide.blog+1