Google Assistant is becoming more human

Google Assistant is becoming more human
Photo: JacobLund, Bigstock

AI assistants are getting smarter each day. They are carefully listening, learning and adapting to users habits and requests. Over the years, AI assistant market has become very compatible with every leading tech giant launching its own artificial intelligence assistant. It seems that AI helpers and assistants are here to stay.

Google has just announced new features and updates that will turn their Google Assistant into a real rockstar. At the Google’s annual I/O developer conference, the company confirmed that over 500 million devices around the globe are integrated with Google Assistant. Therefore, the AI helper is getting a huge update which will boost its performance while keeping up with the competitors, such as Amazon’s Echo.

As company representatives announced during the I/O conference keynote, Google Assistant will sound more like humans and will have the ability to perform complex tasks.

Google Assistant will call local business to book an appointment on users behalf

Yes- you read that right. A new and updated version of the Google Assistant will launch soon with the ability to take real calls. Using the human voice (umms and ahhs included), Google’s smart assistant will be able to schedule appointments when instructed.

By making appointments, we don’t mean simply booking online and automatically feeling in your pre-saved details. Your little AI helper will actually make the call and “talk” the business representative on the other side of the line.

To explain how this feature will actually work in the real word, the company used an example of booking a hairdresser appointment. At the event, Google showed what happens when the Assistant is instructed to book in a womens hairdresser appointment.

What happened next is unbelievable, and yet just a bit creepy, Google Assistant rang the local hair salon, and when the woman answered the phone, it explained in completely natural, human voice that “she” needs to book in a womens haircut. Simple as that.

The updated chatting features and new Google Assistant voice will make the AI more interactive

John Legend
John Legend. Photo: Lunchbox LP, Flickr (Creative Commons)

Google’s popular assistant will also receive voice options. The most exciting voice update will feature a Google Assistant voice pack by John Legend, a real-life music superstar. The new voice updates are expected to be available on smartphones and Google home devices by the end of this year. Along with the voice updates, the assistant will improve the overall chatting experience.

Interacting with your AI assistant will be easier, as the company will introduce “Multiple Actions” and “Continued Conversations”. These will enable additional features, which will make the overall Google Assistant experience more enjoyable.

Continued Conversations will enable natural conversations with the assistant. This update will allow users to follow-up questions. The goal is to reduce the usage of the “Hey Google” command, which currently needs to be activated each time when a user wants to interact with the AI. The constant usage of this term was reducing the overall interaction as users report it to be to complicated to follow up on topics and have continuous chats.

Multiple Actions will allow Google Assistant to perform complex queries, which will allow users to instruct two or more commands at the same time. For example, a user can ask the assistant to turn on the movie and deem the lights at the same time

The updated version of Google Assistant will make your kids more polite

In addition, the updated version of the Google Assistant will help you to prompt your kids to be more polite by using the feature called “Pretty Please”. When on, this feature will only respond positively to commands which are instructed politely, by using phrases such as “please” and “thank you”. This way, the company believes that the AI assistant and Google Home devices will become more kids friendly.

The update will also bring visual food pickup and delivery options. The AI will suggest your favourite pickup locations and food when you say that you want to place an order in one of the featured chains, such as Starbucks, Domino’s and similar Google partners.