Google outlines future of voice at developer festival 

Google has used its annual I/O developer festival to highlight the future of voice. Held in Mountain View last week (8-10 May), the event brings together developers from all around the world and gives the search engine a chance to outline its upcoming products, predictions and advances ahead of rolling them out.

Google has used its annual I/O developer festival to highlight the future of voice. Held in Mountain View last week (8-10 May), the event brings together developers from all around the world and gives the search engine a chance to outline its upcoming products, predictions and advances ahead of rolling them out.

The focus of this year’s keynote speech differed to the search-centric comments we’re used to and instead, honed in on an area that’s of particular interest to mobile users; voice and more specifically, Google Assistant.

In the keynote address, Google revealed that Assistant is now installed on 500 million devices globally. This includes devices you might not usually think of, such as cars and televisions along with working alongside 5,000 connected home devices. At the end of this year, Google says Assistant will span 30 languages and 80 countries.

The search engine used I/O to outline a number of developments too. Here is a quick recap of what we can expect to see happening with Assistant in the near future…

More voices: Google will roll out six new voices, meaning users can enjoy a greater degree of personalisation when using Assistant in the future. The singer John Legend’s voice will also provide a small amount of spoken content. Developers cited advanced in AI as a reason for being able to create more voices more quickly. With a truncated development timeframe, it’s also possible that more voices, including celebrity voices, will be launched more often.

Smart displays : Later this summer, smart displays will launch. As of July, some manufacturers (including Lenovo) will roll out new hardware which incorporates Assistant on screen and couples this with a richer visual experience. All devices with smart displays should be usable with either touch screen or voice.

Hey Google: There have been improvements to Assistant’s natural language capability too. In a move reminiscent of recent updates to Amazon Echo, users will now be able to ask follow-up questions without having to say “Hey Google” or “Ok Google” to trigger the Assistant.

Google Maps integration: Voice assistant will be integrated with Google Maps and will allow users to send text messages or make calls from the Maps app.

AI-powered phone scheduling: One of the biggest reveals was the roll out of Duplex, which is a phone system for booking appointments with local businesses (such as the vets or hairdressers) powered by AI.