Hey Google, Where Was the Google Assistant at I/O?

Google I/O, the corporate’s annual developer convention, could be summed up in two phrases: synthetic intelligence. From new instruments that provide help to write drafts or arrange knowledge in Google Docs and Sheets to “supercharged” search outcomes, AI was all over the place at Google I/O.

What we did not hear a lot about, nonetheless, was the Google Assistant — the corporate’s clever voice-enabled helper that is been a key a part of its core merchandise during the last seven years. Although the Assistant is inherently totally different from the instruments and companies Google showcased at I/O, it shares the identical underlying targets, like conjuring solutions which can be extra helpful than typical search outcomes and caring for sure duties in your behalf.

The Assistant has served because the clever thread connecting lots of Google’s services collectively, from its Pixel telephones and watch to its Nest audio system and even your automotive. But if Google’s I/O presentation is indicative of its future technique, the corporate is infusing extra of its particular person merchandise with AI reasonably than counting on the Assistant because the sensible layer that unites all of them. 

When Google launched the Assistant at the exact same convention in May 2016, it positioned its digital helper as the way forward for search. “People are more and more interacting naturally with Google, and are not simply searching for the world’s data however truly anticipating Google to assist them with their day by day duties,” reads a 2016 Google weblog publish from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai introducing the Assistant.

The Google Assistant wasn’t nearly developing with a solution to Siri or Alexa; new merchandise have been constructed round it. Google Home sensible audio system have been developed as voice-first alternate options to Amazon’s sprawling Echo empire. Google additionally flaunted its unique Pixel cellphone as the primary cellphone with the Google Assistant built-in. Voice Assistants like Amazon’s Alexa have been starting to permeate the cultural vernacular round 2016 and 2017, making appearances in Super Bowl advertisements and on Saturday Night Live.

At CES 2018, the Assistant was all over the place as Google introduced a slew of partnerships that put its ambient helper in merchandise from Lenovo, LG, JBL and others. Google’s sales space on the present was basically an interactive commercial for the Google Assistant, underscoring the corporate’s imaginative and prescient for a voice-first future on the time.

It did not cease there. Wireless earbuds, which initially caught on as a extra handy solution to hearken to music and podcasts, began to heart on digital assistants. Hands-free Siri entry was one of many headlining options of Apple’s 2019 AirPods, and Amazon launched its personal AirPods rival known as the Echo Buds that very same 12 months as a sooner solution to entry Alexa on-the-go.

The Google Assistant has historically been a serious focus throughout Google I/O, the place the corporate not solely reveals off developer instruments however lays out the imaginative and prescient for its merchandise. At final 12 months’s Google I/O, for instance, it introduced a characteristic that permits you to activate the Google Assistant on the Nest Hub Max simply by it. 

Taken collectively, these developments painted an image that digital butlers have been going to be the brand new manner we search the web and work together with the rising variety of tech units in our lives. 

But seven years after the Google Assistant’s debut, the tech panorama seems to be totally different. The division that oversees Alexa product improvement was impacted by Amazon layoffs final 12 months, though the corporate’s {hardware} chief Dave Limp informed CNBC it stays “absolutely dedicated” to Alexa. 

Google reportedly reorganized its digital assistant crew to focus extra on its Bard generative AI chatbot, in line with CNBC. Google additionally stopped offering software program updates for sure third-party sensible show fashions from Lenovo, JBL and LG. Some voice assistant customers have additionally grown involved about privateness and annoyed when a digital helper like Alexa unintentionally delivers the flawed reply, in line with studies from the BBC and the Washington Post.

In response to CNET’s request for remark, a Google spokesperson mentioned the Assistant is a prime precedence for the corporate. 

At the identical time, one thing surprising occurred in late 2022. A seemingly higher solution to retrieve solutions on the internet emerged: ChatGPT. The on-line chatbot, run by OpenAI, shortly caught on as a result of it may go a step past simply answering questions. Instead of simply asking for food regimen suggestions or exercise concepts, it may plan your weekly meals and provide you with an train routine. ChatGPT and different merchandise prefer it use generative AI, or AI that may create content material based mostly on prompts, to provide you with such responses.

It felt much more subtle than asking Google or Alexa to summarize a information article or flip off your lights, and tech corporations shortly took discover. Google and Microsoft (the latter of which missed out on the voice assistant growth) wasted no time injecting their merchandise with generative AI in 2023. 

It’s these efforts that have been on full show at Google I/O, as the corporate showcased the way it will use generative AI to boost your textual content messages, generate pictures to match the textual content in your Google Slides presentation and summarize your newest e mail thread in Gmail.  

That’s to not say the Google Assistant is not current within the firm’s upcoming merchandise. In reality, it is the other. The new Pixel Tablet turns into a wise speaker when docked, which means many individuals will seemingly be utilizing voice instructions to work together with it. The Pixel Fold can translate speech utilizing each the outer and interior display screen, which ought to make it simpler to speak with those that converse a unique language. And a part of what makes Google’s Pixel telephones stand out within the first place is their Assistant-powered options, like the power for Google to attend on maintain for you.

But regardless of all this, the Google Assistant barely got here up throughout what would be the firm’s greatest occasion of the 12 months. While that is shocking given Google’s large deal with AI, maybe it is a signal that the Google Assistant has matured. It’s only a native a part of Google’s merchandise at this level and subsequently wants much less stage time. 

Now, it is generative AI’s flip to take the highlight.