Google rolled out Gemini Spark, a 24/7 AI agent that claims to handle multi‑step tasks while users step away from their devices. Over a week, a journalist put the service through a series of real‑world requests, from drafting a grocery‑spending email to a wife to creating a preschool checklist for a toddler.

The first test asked Spark to locate a spouse’s email address, retrieve a 2026 budget spreadsheet stored under an ambiguous name, calculate average monthly grocery totals and compose a draft in Gmail. Spark succeeded: it identified the correct address, extracted the figures, performed the averaging and produced a personalized message that even used a shared sign‑off.

Encouraged, the reporter pushed the assistant further. When asked to set up a missing sign‑up sheet for a block‑party‑style email, Spark created a new spreadsheet, inserted a link into the draft and flagged the task as complete after a few minutes of processing.

More elaborate requests included adding monthly calendar events for a wife’s birthday, coloring them "hot pink," drafting a family email about the newest Taskmaster episode, and generating a Google Doc with a toddler‑preschool checklist. The calendar events appeared correctly, the email captured the episode title (though it linked to a trailer), and the document was created, albeit with access limited to the reporter’s account.

Despite the impressive output, the experience was not seamless. Spark occasionally produced inaccurate details—such as referencing a non‑existent sign‑up sheet in an early draft—and required the user to grant contact access, which the reporter declined. The assistant also inserted casual language like "loool" into formal messages, underscoring the need for human review.

Cost and availability present additional hurdles. Spark is bundled only with Google’s AI Ultra plan, priced at $99.99 per month, and at the time of testing was restricted to U.S. users speaking English. The service leverages deep integration with a user’s Google ecosystem, meaning long‑time account holders with Personal Intelligence enabled receive the most benefit. Google assures that Gemini does not train directly on Gmail content, but users must trust the company’s data stewardship.

Overall, Spark demonstrates the potential of an autonomous AI assistant that can act across Gmail, Calendar, Drive and other Google apps. Yet the necessity of constant monitoring, the high subscription fee and lingering privacy concerns suggest that many users may stick with manual workflows, at least until the technology matures and pricing becomes more competitive.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.
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