Voice assistants are having a moment. Meta recently rolled out its new voice-powered Meta AI in a standalone app, while Google’s Gemini Live now lets you have full back-and-forth conversations with the chatbot via Android or iOS. Both are designed to be natural, helpful and available in real time.
But how do they actually stack up?
To find out, I ran both Meta AI and Gemini Live through the same five real-life prompts right on my iPhone.
No typing, just me talking to the bots the way I talk to a friend when I’m hungry, frazzled or in desperate need of entertainment for my kids.
I judged them on speed, usefulness, follow-up ability and personality. Here’s how each one performed.
1. Cooking and meal planning
Prompt: “I have chicken and spinach — what should I make for dinner?”
Meta offered me a variety of options immediately, each of varying difficulty. The bot then asked me what I was in the mood for. From there, I said the pasta sounded good and it gave me the recipe.
Gemini Live started with one idea only. Rather than giving me a variety of options to choose from, it asked me if I had any pasta on hand. When I said yes, but asked for something else, it offered a few options.
Winner: Meta wins for coming up with the most ideas from the start rather than making me ask for more.
2. Activities for the family
Prompt: “What’s a fun and inexpensive way to celebrate the end of the school year?”
Meta suggested a potluck picnic but also included a few other different activities to help me decide on the best choice.
Gemini Live also suggested a potluck and suggested “everyone bring a dish,” which is basically the definition of a potluck. It did not elaborate on any other activities.
Winner: Meta wins for once again offering more ideas upfront rather than stopping at the first suggestion.
3. Summer reading suggestions
Prompt: “Can you give me a list of summer reading books? I’m a fan of Emily Henry.”
Meta struggled with this and kept interrupting me. It kept saying “Happy to help!” as I was talking. It suggested all of Emily Henry’s books, which, as a fan of hers, I’ve already read. Finally, after a bit of prompting and a ton of pauses, I got a few suggestions.
Gemini Live was equally bad. I told the bot I have read everything by the author Emily Henry and it immediately suggested one of her books. When prompted again, it suggested a few books by authors with a similar style.
Winner: Meta wins by a hair. While both bots did not answer my prompt immediately, Meta at least came up with several better suggestions by the end of the conversation.
4. Headline news in real-time
Prompt: “Can you tell me the top 5 news stories happening right now?”
Meta immediately mentioned the breaking news story at the bottom of my computer screen and went into detail about it and other important news of the day.
Gemini Live gave a brief overview of the news but didn’t even mention the breaking news. It also did not dive as deep into the current news happening at the moment.
Winner: Meta wins for a more thorough and accurate dive into breaking news.
5. Humor
Prompt: “Tell me a joke that’s appropriate for work.”
Meta absolutely fell flat here. Nothing it said was funny or even a joke. One was just sad.
Gemini Live was basically an office comedian ready to give me joke after joke. They were corny, sure, but funny enough for an office setting.
Winner: Gemini Live wins for better humor and understanding the assignment.
Overall winner: Meta AI
In the end, Meta Voice edged out Gemini Live, winning four out of five categories with stronger suggestions, faster follow-up and better real-time awareness.
While Gemini delivered in the humor department (and still holds promise as a polished assistant backed by Google's ecosystem), it often required more prompting to get where I needed it to go.
If you’re looking for a voice assistant that jumps in with useful ideas without making you work for them, Meta is currently the better companion — even if its jokes could use a little work.
While neither chatbot has much of a personality, they are both smart and responsive. Meta AI might be too responsive. Even if you close the app, the bot continues to talk, ready for another prompt.
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