is there an ai that works like jarvis?

If you want it free on the phone you already have

Gemini Live is the voice mode of Google's Gemini app, with camera and screen sharing, on Android and iOS. It is listed in Google's £0 plan, and by voice it can search Gmail and Drive, check Calendar, add to Tasks or Keep, use Maps and control smart home devices.

What you give up is some reach. Live has no access to Gems or Notebooks, and some features need setup or a subscription. Its actions stay in Google's own tools, which suits you if your mail and calendar are already there and helps less if they are not.

If what you want is a quieter inbox rather than an assistant, there's a simpler fix. If your mail is already piled high with newsletters you never asked for, there's a page on unsubscribing from emails that covers the built-in options in Gmail and iCloud Mail, the bulk tools, and how each one makes its money.

If you mostly want to talk things through

ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode, in OpenAI's ChatGPT app, holds a real-time spoken conversation. The listing describes it for things such as settling a debate or practising a language, and the app is free to download with in-app purchases.

The catch is that the listing describes conversation, not control of your phone or home, so this is for talking rather than handing off chores. The listing also says the app contains advertising, and we could not see what free voice allowance you get. The UK App Store lists ChatGPT Go at £6.99 and Plus at £19.99, with the periods not stated.

If you live in Apple's world and care about privacy

Siri AI is Apple's new conversational Siri, part of Apple Intelligence. It can find your photos, emails and notes, and act in apps like Messages, Music and Reminders. The privacy part is Private Cloud Compute, which Apple says never stores your data. If your life is already on an iPhone or Mac, that personal context is the draw.

The cost is maturity. It is in beta in iOS 27, English first, not initially in the EU on iPhone or iPad, and there are daily usage limits. Apple states no price, though it says expanded access will cost a fee in future.

If waiting on beta limits and regional gaps puts you off, there's another route, and it's the one that skips the cloud altogether. Free apps like LM Studio, Jan, Ollama and GPT4All run open models on your own computer, and Google's AI Edge Gallery does the same on Android phones and iPhones. I've put the details in a guide on using an AI offline, including the one bit of internet you do need.

If you want it to run the house and the errands

Alexa+ is Amazon's generative AI Alexa, on Echo devices, the Alexa app, Alexa.com and Fire TV. Amazon says it controls Philips Hue and Roborock devices, books through OpenTable, orders from Uber Eats, and offers four personality styles.

It works through named partner services Amazon calls experts, so what it can do depends on who is on that list. It is only in early access in the UK, and features vary by region.

If you want to build your own and keep it local

Home Assistant Assist is the voice assistant in Home Assistant, the open-source home automation platform, and it can hand conversation to an AI model. Home Assistant says it can run fully on your own hardware, use a local model through Ollama, and wake to "Hey Jarvis" on Android, hands-free even when the phone is locked. You get privacy and control.

You pay in effort. You need a Home Assistant server, voice hardware, and either an AI account or a local model. There is also a speed choice: letting it answer commands first is faster but drops the AI personality, while sending everything to the AI keeps the character.

When paying is worth it

Gemini Live is free, and Google AI Plus is £4.49 a month for 2x usage, with Pro at £18.99 per month. That is worth paying only if you keep hitting the free limits. Alexa+ is $19.99 a month in the US, free with Prime, and Amazon's page states no UK price. Home Assistant's software shows no price, though the optional Nabu Casa Link showed €7.50 a month or €75.00 a year when we checked from outside the UK, so the UK price may differ.

Apple says server-based features, Siri AI included, have daily limits that vary with demand, so how much you can use it may change from day to day.

Alexa+ says it knows what you have bought, listened to and watched, and uses that to personalise. That is useful, but it means your habits feed it.

In Home Assistant you choose whether the AI may control devices at all, and it can only control the devices you expose to it. That safety catch is yours to set.

Each of the big assistants works within limits its maker sets. Gemini Live's actions are in Google's own tools, Alexa+ works through the partners Amazon has signed up, and Siri AI acts in apps like Messages, Music and Reminders, so pick the one whose world you already live in.