I am still confused who this is and why they felt the need to resign?

True, these sound like the tech execs say when attempting to create the illusion of value, not actually useful innovation.

I do not want this on my device at all. What are my options for my next phone that will replace my aging pixel 6 that won’t include Gemini?

I still haven’t heard a convincing argument to not use .local and I see no reason to stop.