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With Assistant, Google is becoming a lot more like Apple
Google may have finally taken control of its hardware with the new Pixel phones, but the company's still focusing on software. In particular: artificial intelligence. The AI-powered Assistant is an integral part of its new phones, Allo messaging app and smart speaker, making for a more uniform and useful experience across all of Google's (and other brands') devices. If that sounds familiar, it's because Apple brought Siri to multiple platforms first.
Google's AI-powered 'Home' hub ships next month for $129
During its announcement-filled keynote today, Google revealed that its voice-powered assistant/Bluetooth speaker Google Home will cost $129 and is slated to go on sale November 4th. It's the stationary piece of Google's plans to make the platform all about you. As CEO Sundar Pichai said: "The goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user."
Google's 'Assistant' is at the core of its new hardware
Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off today's keynote by emphasizing the company's shift in focus from "mobile first" to "AI first," saying it wants to create a personal Google for each user. The company demonstrated the fruit of its efforts earlier this year by giving us a taste of its AI "Assistant" in its Allo messaging app. But that wasn't enough, according to Google. Pichai said for Assistant to be truly helpful, it needs to be available universally, and so the company today showed how it plans to bring the helper to a wide range of products, including phones and items for your living room.
Google baked its AI 'Assistant' into the new Pixel phones
The Pixel and Pixel XL may look new on the outside, but just like grandma says, it's what's inside that counts. Google has tweaked the underlying software that powers the Pixels, baking its AI Assistant directly into the phones and launching them with Nougat 7.1.
Brits, say Allo to Google's new messaging app
You might think that between your family thread on Facebook Messenger, your various friend groups on WhatsApp, and the trusted text a few acquaintances still insist on using, you've got all possible lines of communication covered. But spare a thought for Allo, Google's latest attempt to be more than just a fringe player in messaging. Allo made its debut on far-flung shores earlier this week, but as of today it's now available in the UK for Android and iOS.
Allo brings Google's 'Assistant' to your phone today
If you're going to unveil a new messaging app, it had better do something unique. At this point, finding a place amongst entrenched options like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and iMessage is not an easy task. Google didn't quite pull it off with Hangouts when it launched in 2013. Sure, it's installed on basically every Android phone out there and anyone with a Gmail account has probably tried it, but Google's messaging strategy never quite came together in a compelling or clear way. So Google is rebooting yet again with Allo, a mobile-only messaging app that leverages the company's biggest strengths in an effort to stand out from the pack. That strength is the vast amount of knowledge Google has about you and the world around you. It shows up in the app via the Google Assistant, a conversational chatbot that provides you and your friends with contextual info based on your chat history. The bot will show up across multiple Google products, including Google Home, but this is our first look at it in action.
Google plots a backstory for its AI assistant
Now that Google Assistant is promising two-way conversations, Google wants to give the artificial intelligence a little more personality. The company has asked both a freelance artist (Emma Coats) and the head of its Doodle team (Ryan Germick) to make Assistant more relatable to its human users through multiple techniques, including a possible "childhood" that you might identify with. You could also see a more Siri-like playfulness, with both ready-made answers for silly questions as well as a little vulnerability.
What the hell is Google Assistant?
Google Assistant is a conversational successor to Google Now. But it's also a competitor to the chatbots we're seeing from Microsoft and Facebook. And of course, it's also being positioned to take on Amazon's Alexa and its Echo speaker. Assistant in many ways looks like the future of Google, but at this point it's also pretty confusing. Engadget's Chris Velazco tries to figure sort out what it means in the video above.
Google Assistant will talk to your favorite services
Google Assistant won't just be helpful for talking to Google itself: It'll tap into a wide array of services, too. The search giant has revealed that it's working on a "comprehensive way" for third parties to tap into the AI-powered, conversation-oriented helper. You'll have to wait to hear more about it in the "coming months," but there are already some big partners lined up, like OpenTable, Spotify and Uber. On stage at its annual I/O developer conference, Google also said that it expects developers to trivia challenges and other games. In short: As with Facebook Messenger and Skype, you may find yourself chatting up all kinds of services in the near future. For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Google debuts Assistant, a conversational AI helper
Say hello to Google Assistant, a more conversational spin on the company's existing voice search capabilities. In many ways, it looks like the logical evolution of Google Now -- though for some reason it isn't getting a catchy name like Cortana, Siri or Alexa. By saying "OK Google," you can query it with simple questions as before, or do complex things like book movie tickets. The key with Assistant, unlike Google Now before it, is that it starts a two-way natural language conversation to figure out what you're asking.
