Google Plans To Revamp Assistant With Generative AI
Updated: Dec 18, 2023
Google Assistant could soon benefit from the advancements brought on by generative artificial intelligence (AI).
According to Axios, the search engine giant is planning to overhaul Assistant and give it more features powered by large language models (LLM), the same tech behind the likes of ChatGPT and Bard. The move is expected to change the way the digital companion works for consumers and developers alike, though as to how is yet unclear.
"As a team, we need to focus on delivering high-quality, critical product experiences for our users," wrote Google Assistant Vice President Peeyush Ranjan and Product Director Duke Dukellis in an internal email. "We've also seen the profound potential of generative AI to transform people's lives and see a huge opportunity to explore what a supercharged Assistant, powered by the latest LLM technology, would look like."
For those unfamiliar, Assistant is Google's digital assistant software for mobile and home devices. The software, which is capable of engaging in two-way conversations, automates certain functions, such as automatically setting alarms for users, for example.
Google says development of the "supercharged" Assistant has already started for the mobile version of the product.
In line with that, the company is reorganising the teams working on it, with plans to make a small number of layoffs.
"We remain deeply committed to Assistant and we are optimistic about its bright future ahead," added Ranjan and Dukellis.
Amazon is similarly working on upgrading its own digital assistant software, Alexa. The e-commerce giant wants to leverage generative AI to refresh Alexa's capabilities and make it relevant again in today's tech landscape.
Sticking with AI, Google is also testing AI-generated video summaries on YouTube. These summaries appear on search and watch pages but aren't meant to replace the video descriptions written by the content creators themselves. YouTube says the summaries are supposed to provide users with a "quick overview" of what the video is all about. The test is being conducted in a limited capacity, with only a select number of English-language videos having summaries.
Google is planning to overhaul Assistant and give it more features powered by large language models (LLM), the same tech behind the likes of ChatGPT and Bard.
The move is expected to change the way the digital companion works for consumers and developers alike, though as to how is yet unclear.
The search engine giant says development of the "supercharged" Assistant has already started for the mobile version of the product.