In summary:
- Tech Advisor reports that Google Gemini’s upcoming ‘bonobo’ upgrade will enable screen automation, allowing the AI to control phones and perform tasks like ordering Uber rides.
- This feature raises privacy concerns as Google may use trained reviewers to scan screenshots when ‘Keep Activity’ is enabled.
- Users should exercise caution with sensitive information, as Google acknowledges Gemini can make mistakes and requires supervision.
Google’s Gemini AI assistant is set for a huge upgrade in its basic capabilities, as recently discovered code reveals.
A new report has discovered evidence of a new, more self-sufficient Google Gemini AI assistant in the latest beta version of the Google app. There are references to a new feature codenamed “bonobo” in the code, which seems to relate to “screen automation”.
This will seemingly relate to Gemini being able to place orders on your behalf using third-party apps such as Uber or Lyft. Yes, at some point in the presumably-not-too-distant future, your smartphone – via Gemini – will be able to call you a cab, according to Android Authority.
If it can do that, then it will presumably be able to do all kinds of things without you tapping a single button. And this is on top of the recently announced Personal Intelligence update.
What’s the catch?
However, there are some of the security concerns wrapped up in this new screen automation feature. Google is inserting disclaimers that urge users to supervise what Gemini is doing on their behalf, while the phrase “Gemini can make mistakes” has also been discovered.
Not exactly what you want to hear when you’re relying on your phone to get you to an appointment on time. Or to order you dinner, which was the place my mind immediately went to when I read the article.
While we’re on the subject of faintly alarming disclaimers, the website also discovered the news that Google will use “trained reviewers” to scan screenshots taken from your phone “if Keep Activity is on”.
Given that you’re also being urged not to enter any sensitive information or payment details here, it does rather raise some pressing questions about the implications of handing over even basic tasks to your phone.
Google first hinted that its Google assistant was heading in this so-called ‘agentic’ direction back at Google I/O 2025. Project Astra, as it has been dubbed (see above video), is to be able to essentially take control of your phone for you in order to automate basic tasks.
It seems we’re now starting to see the first glimpses of this major Gemini upgrade coming to fruition, though we don’t yet have a timeline on when they’ll be ready for public use.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.