Gemini's branding clutter shows a wider problem across AI apps
Google's Gemini app splits features like Spark and Daily Brief into separately branded tools, undermining its promise of simplicity, and rivals like Claude and ChatGPT show the same pattern.
In announcing new Gemini Live voice features this week, Google said users shouldn't have to guess whether a task needs Spark, Daily Brief, or a simple inbox search. Yet the Gemini app itself contradicts that promise: chat, Spark, and Daily Brief each appear as separate features with their own icons and navigation spots, adding clutter rather than the streamlined experience Google describes.
Daily Brief in particular seems designed with an engineer's mindset rather than an everyday user's needs. It pulls data from apps like Gmail and Calendar to offer proactive, personalized updates, but it struggles to distinguish urgent, actionable information from unnecessary nudges — such as prompting users to revisit earlier chatbot research or resurfacing past Google searches, which can feel intrusive rather than helpful.
Spark, by contrast, is considered genuinely useful since it lets the AI take actions on a user's behalf. The issue is that Google has turned it into a standalone brand, forcing users to think about which mode they need rather than simply typing a request and letting the AI decide whether to deploy an agent.
This isn't unique to Google. Anthropic's Claude requires users to choose between "chat" and a "Cowork" mode, which until recently didn't even share memory of past conversations. ChatGPT similarly separates "Chat" and "Work" modes. Across the industry, AI companies are exposing their internal architecture to users instead of hiding it behind a simple interface.
This may explain why Apple's more understated approach to Siri could resonate with mainstream users — it upgrades existing tools like Spotlight Search, Photos, the camera, and voice requests without asking people to learn a new interface. A similar logic underlies the growing popularity of text-based AI assistants such as Poke, Ollie, Lindy, Orchid, Lucas, Folk, Tomo, and Instinct, where users simply text requests through a familiar interface rather than navigating branded features within an app.
