Google Assistant now has the power to send and request money

Google is making it easy to pay Bob and Kate for last weekend's barbecue by connecting its voice assistant to its mobile payment platform. You can now ask Assistant to pay your contacts -- or to ask for payment from that one friend who keeps avoiding your calls -- by saying "Hey Google, request $10 from Kevin for pizza three weeks ago" or "Hey Google, send Conny $15 for the movies tonight." The feature is now live for Assistant on Android and iOS (probably through Google Pay Send's peer-to-peer payment capabilities) devices, but only if you're in the US.

As you can see in the GIF, you won't accidentally send or request money, since you'll need to verify each transaction. If you haven't set up Google Pay yet, asking Assistant to send or request for payment will start the setup process -- if it's the recipient who doesn't have a Pay account, they'll receive a notification saying they'll have to set one up to cash out. The feature will make its way to Assistant-powered smart speakers in the coming months and most likely to other regions in the future.