Google Assistant

Overview

Google Assistant is an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant developed by Google. It is primarily available on mobile and smart home devices. Unlike the company's previous virtual assistant, Google Now, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations.

History

Google Assistant was unveiled during Google's developer conference in May 2016, initially as part of Google's messaging app Allo, and its voice-activated speaker Google Home. After a period of exclusivity on the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, it began to be deployed on other Android devices in February 2017, including third-party smartphones and Android Wear (now Wear OS), and was released as a standalone app on the iOS operating system in May 2017. Alongside the announcement of a software development kit in April 2017, the Assistant has been, and is being, further extended to support a large variety of devices, including cars and third party smart home appliances. The functionality of the Assistant can also be enhanced by third-party developers.

Platforms

Google Assistant is currently available on smartphones and smart speakers, including but not limited to the Google Nest series, Android phones, iPhones, and more.

Features

Google Assistant offers voice commands, voice searching, and voice-activated device control, letting you complete a number of tasks after you've said the "OK Google" or "Hey, Google" wake words. It is designed to give you conversational interactions.

Commands

Google Assistant can help you get a lot done on your phone. You can use it to send texts, make phone calls, set reminders, and more. Your Assistant can also tell you jokes, play games, and answer fun facts.

Voice-Activated Device Control

Control your favorite music, movies, and shows, using only your voice. Google Assistant works with your favorite mobile apps and websites for music and video, so you can start your favorite music playlist, tune in to your favorite show, or visit your favorite website without touching your phone.

Continued Conversation

With Continued Conversation turned on, after you ask the Assistant a question, you can ask a follow-up, set a reminder, or issue a command without having to say, "Hey Google," before each one. You can say multiple things in one sentence, and the Assistant will respond to all your queries.

Development

Google Assistant uses a natural language user interface and artificial intelligence to provide a service. It was initially developed as a part of Google's "conversational search" projects. The development of Google Assistant involved a deep learning neural network called Google Neural Machine Translation to improve its language recognition capabilities.

Privacy

Google Assistant records your queries and keeps the recording until you manually delete it. Google states that this is to improve the voice recognition feature. You can view your Google Assistant activity by going to the Google Assistant Activity page on your Google Account.