As you’ve probably seen, a lot of big announcements have come from this year’s Google I/O, another of one of them being the Google Home – a smart speaker that has incorporated Google’s rather amazing voice recognition software with a system to help you with virtually everything.
And all you have to do is say “Okay Google” and ask it anything from simple little things like “What’s the weather going to be like today?” to something more complex like “Have I received any emails from my boss?”
Google Home is one of a few devices very similar in function to others that are already out there or are heading to the market soon. For example, Amazon has the Echo which is, while being similar, is limited to the U.S. whereas Google Home is to be released worldwide this year.
There is also Apple’s Siri which, like the “Okay Google” on Android phones, is built in to all Apple iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices built within the last few years. These mobile versions are however limited as they can only access basic functions that are exclusive to the phones own native apps.
With Google Home always listening, you can activate it any time. Say you were just listening to your favourite radio station and a song came on that you liked but you didn’t quite catch the songs name. All you would have to do is day ‘Okay Google, what’s the name of this song?’ then just give Google Home a moment and its intelligent AI will be able to tell you.
Also included with this device is Google’s brand new Assistant which unlike other personal assistants software you can actually have proper conversation with and not just the usual “Yes or “No” answers. All of this is just bringing us one step closer to making artificial intelligence, just as or even better that human intelligence.
A quote from Sundar Pichai, Googles Chief Executive: “Computing is evolving beyond phones, and people are using it in context across many scenarios, be it in their television, be it in their car, be it something they wear on their wrist or even something much more immersive.”
Google Home is another example of how quickly home AI is developing and it’s a fascinating, yet frightening insight..