Is Google Leaning Into Astrology By Naming Its AI App Gemini?

With the release on February 8 of its latest AI innovation, Google melded several different functionalities into a single app. Named Gemini, it’s intended, as The New York Times explains, to combine digital assistant and chatbot. Google asserts in a blog post that it outperformed humans on tests related to knowledge and problem-solving in areas as diverse as “math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics” and that it’s “far more capable at reasoning” than previous iterations.

Sound like any Geminis you know?

Whether it’s a coincidence that Google named its talking AI app after a constellation and an astrological sign known to have an insatiable curiosity, a constant need for mental stimulation, quick thinking, communication savvy, and more than a little wit is unknown.

It wouldn’t be unprecedented for a brand to align a product’s name, intentionally or otherwise, with an astrological sign. Consider the Ford Taurus, which in keeping with its namesake had luxuriant leanings and consistent reliability ratings. Free People, the free-spirited fashion brand, has dubbed everything from slips to hoodies to necklaces after the various individual signs. Even Facebook’s failed cryptocurrency bore the same name as balance-loving Libra.

And it wouldn’t be a misguided move for a company to try to align the public’s perception with the traits of a particular sign. Millennials and Gen Zers are turning to astrology in droves, with a study by MTV citing that 75 percent of these populations “trust that astrology works.”

With the release of the AI model’s previous iteration in December 2023, Google declared it “the Gemini era.” (Actually, according to astrology, we’re in the Age of Aquarius.) At the time, Google’s chief scientist, Jeff Dean, disclosed insights into the decision early in December when he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the name relates to the Latin origins for the term “Gemini,” citing the collaborative nature between teams at the company.

The constellation Gemini is known for its two brightest stars, Pollux and Castor, which were considered by various ancient cultures as twins in the cosmos.

It’s unknown whether there were any boardroom discussions relating to the tool’s intellectual traits and characteristics commonly ascribed to the constellation Gemini. Nor is it clear whether the design for the app’s name, with white lettering on a black background and a star hovering nearby, implies anything. Google did not immediately respond to a request for information.

Regardless, the commonalities are there. “Gemini is a mutable air sign, and just as air moves quickly, freely, and without bounds, so does Gemini in today’s world through communication, information, and technology,” says Jordane Maree, astrologer and founder of Girl and Her Moon. Incidentally, she says her partner, a Gemini, is always using AI. (ChatGPT, to be specific.)

Maree explains that the archetype of Gemini embodies an eagerness to “mentally take in all it can, constantly learning and processing, so that it may then share this information in as many directions as possible through the spoken or written word. It gathers and disperses. Collects and shares. Gemini is a vessel through which knowledge moves freely and dynamically.”

Whether or not astrology played into Google’s decision, the comparison could be construed as quite flattering. Although not everyone considers it as such. Referring to The New York Times assertion that the app at times “hallucinates,” one unamused Gemini explained, “Google, of all entities, doesn’t seem to get the nuance of using one of the spicier signs for a buggy new AI system.”

Spicier, indeed. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet known not only for its communicative talents but its trickster antics. According to astrology, Geminis similarly possess a tendency toward mischief and being a little, well, mercurial.

Perhaps we simply need to remain curious and see how Gemini’s functionality plays out when Mercury goes retrograde in several weeks on April Fool’s Day.