20 Free Things You Didn't Know You Can DO With Google Gemini

Issue #17 | July 4, 2025

Welcome to another edition of AI Discoveries, your weekly dose of all things artificial intelligence! This week, we're diving deep into the powerhouse that is Google Gemini, revealing how you can leverage its incredible capabilities for free. You'll be amazed at what you can achieve!

Google Gemini is more than just a chatbot; it's a versatile AI assistant that can revolutionize your daily tasks, learning, and creativity. And the best part? Many of its most powerful features are completely free! 

Here are 20 things you can do with Gemini right now:

For Everyday Productivity & Organization:

1. Summarize Documents & Emails: Paste lengthy articles, reports, or even your Gmail conversations and ask Gemini for a concise summary.

2. Draft Emails & Messages: Get help composing professional emails, friendly texts, or even social media captions in seconds.

3. Generate Lists & Plans: Ask Gemini to create shopping lists, to-do lists, daily schedules, or even travel itineraries.

4. Set Alarms & Timers: Use voice commands to set reminders and timers directly through Gemini (especially useful on mobile).

5. Control Smart Home Devices: If connected to Google Home, Gemini can help you control your smart lights, TV, and other compatible devices.

6. Find Information from Your Google Apps: Ask Gemini to pull information from your Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Drive (with your permission).

7. Organize Your Photos: With "Ask Photos," Gemini can help you find specific pictures based on complex queries (e.g., "show me photos of what I ate in Barcelona").

8. Translate Text: Paste text or upload an image of handwritten notes and ask Gemini to translate them into various languages.

For Learning & Research:

9. Deep Dive Research: Use the "Deep Research" feature to get Gemini to sift through hundreds of online sources and synthesize comprehensive reports with citations.

10. Explain Complex Topics: Get simplified explanations for intricate subjects, from scientific concepts to historical events.

11. Create Study Guides & Quizzes: Ask Gemini to generate study plans, topic summaries, and even quizzes to test your knowledge.

12. Analyze Data & Compare Information: Upload spreadsheets or text with data and ask Gemini to analyze it, compare different sets, or even create charts.

13. Practice Presentations: Use Gemini Live to rehearse your presentations and get real-time feedback.

14. Get Information from YouTube Videos: Ask Gemini to summarize a YouTube video or list ingredients from a cooking tutorial.

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For Creativity & Content Creation:

15. Generate Images: Describe the image you envision, and Gemini can create it for you using advanced image generation models like Imagen 4.

16. Brainstorm Ideas: Need a fresh perspective? Ask Gemini to brainstorm ideas for anything from a new project to a creative writing prompt.

17. Write Creative Content: From poems and scripts to blog post outlines and marketing slogans, Gemini can help kickstart your creative flow.

18. Develop Code: Get assistance with writing or refactoring code in multiple programming languages.

19. Create Custom AI Experts (Gems): Design your own personalized Gemini, like a career coach or a coding helper, by providing detailed instructions.

20. Turn Words into Videos (Limited Access): With some models, you can generate short, high-quality videos from text descriptions.

How to get started for free: Simply visit gemini.google.com and log in with your personal Google Account. You can also download the Gemini mobile app for Android and iOS.

AI Tool of The Week: NotebookLM

This week's spotlight shines on NotebookLM, an AI-powered note-taking tool from Google that goes beyond simple organization. Upload your documents (PDFs, text files, Markdown, etc.), and NotebookLM will become your intelligent research assistant. It can generate summaries, answer questions about your uploaded content, and even create podcast-style audio summaries. It's like having a personal research assistant for all your digital files!

News of The Week: The Rise of Agentic AI

The first half of 2025 has seen an explosion in Agentic AI innovation. Companies like Amazon Web Services, Dataiku, Google Cloud, and GitHub are launching new AI agents designed to perform complex tasks autonomously, often interacting with multiple tools and data sources. This signifies a major shift towards more sophisticated and independent AI systems that can plan, execute, and even reflect on their actions, promising to reshape how we work and interact with technology. The global agentic AI market is projected to skyrocket from $28 billion in 2024 to $127 billion by 2029!

Today's Guide: Master Gemini's Multimodal Power

One of Gemini's greatest strengths is its multimodal capabilities, allowing you to interact with it using text, voice, and images.

Here's a quick guide to mastering this:

1. Text Prompts: The most common way. Simply type your request in the chat box. Be clear, concise, and provide context for best results.

   • Example: "Write a short story about a detective in a futuristic city."

2. Voice Prompts: On the mobile app, tap the microphone icon to speak your query. This is fantastic for hands-free use or when you're on the go.

   • Example: "Hey Gemini, what's the weather like in Lagos today?"

3. Image Prompts: Tap the "Add files" icon (usually a plus sign or image icon) to upload an image. Then, ask questions about it.

   • Example: Upload a picture of a plant and ask: "What kind of plant is this, and how do I care for it?"

   • You can even use "Ask about this screen" on your phone to get Gemini to analyze what's currently displayed on your screen and answer questions about it.

By combining these input methods, you unlock Gemini's full potential, making it a truly intuitive and powerful AI companion.

That's all for this week's AI Discoveries! Stay curious, keep exploring, and we'll see you next week for more groundbreaking AI insights.

The AI Discoveries Team