You might want to turn the AI-powered Assistant with Bard off, and Google will let you

Software updates are the necessary evil that tests our patience and restraint – there’s no feeling like the one you get when you open your favorite app and realize something is seriously wrong and there is no going back.

Fortunately, Google is about to introduce a major improvement, with the ability to revert to its original state.

We’re talking about Google’s turbocharged Assistant that was introduced at the Pixel 8 launch: the new Assistant with Bard.

Of course, millions of people are on the brink and tired of waiting for the official release of Wizard with Bard. These will deactivate the new feature when the cows come home. But there are likely some who would choose to do so, as it has now been reported that the new Wizard with Bard will not initially offer all of the abilities of the original Wizard. That’s why Google is working on a way to return to “Classic Assistant” once the new AI-powered experience rolls out (via Android Font).

The features missing from the non-AI Assistant version aren’t listed at the moment, but popular Android expert AssembleDebug is the one claiming users will be able to switch between modes:

Assistant with Bard combines Assistant’s personalized help with Bard’s generative reasoning capabilities, allowing you to interact not only with your voice and text, but also with images. During the launch event, the company said the new experience was supposed to roll out over the next few months.