With Google Assistant heading a breath-taking number of devices this year, the search giant is highlighting another key strength: This technology now supports over one million actions, which are essentially things the Assistant can do.
“To start the year off right, we’re at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas showcasing the Assistant at home, on the go and in the car—and all the ways it can help in each of those places.,” Google’s Brad Abrams explains. “It’s been an exciting year to see the platform expand to new languages and devices and to see what [third-party developers have] created.
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Developers that create apps for Google Assistant build actions into these apps, expanding the capabilities of the Assistant and making it more useful for users. These actions can span a range of wide capabilities from language translation to online purchasing to games for kids and much more. Over time, as these actions become more and more sophisticated, Google Assistant—like Amazon’s Alexa—becomes smarter, and enables more conversational experiences.
(We’re still waiting on routines, I believe; this feature will let users string multiple actions into a script-like entity that will enable you to say things like “Hey Google, goodnight,” and have the Assistant trigger multiple actions in one go.)
Of course, with over one million actions already available on Google Assistant, just finding out what the Assistant can do can be a bit daunting. So Google has created a new directory on the web, and an updated directory on mobile, so that both developers and end users can learn more. (On mobile, open the Assistant app and navigate to Explore.)
This ecosystem is exploding: Google notes that there are over 400 million Assistant-enabled devices in the world. And that Assistant works with over 1,500 smart devices from over 200 brands, with more on the way.
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#236265"><em>In reply to jrickel96:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Remember when Siri was the next big things and everyone used it for awhile on their phones – and then usage died down."</p><p><br></p><p>I bet if we had actual numbers from all players that Siri would but either at the top or near it in terms of usage, simply because it is on so many iPhones in use.</p><p><br></p><p>I will be the first to admit Siri is not the "smartest" right now but I use all the time from small things like "Call soinso" or "timer 20min" or "Play" some music.</p><p><br></p><p>Amazon is the hot new item but it is not on any phones as of yet.</p>
Bats
<p>I just bought a new car, a Mercedes Benz. It had the option of either installing the Mercedes multimedia package or the Android Auto/Apple Carplay package. FYI, the latter package allows you to install BOTH Android Auto AND Apple Carplay. What did I choose? I wanted to choose the Android Auto, but I opted for the Mercedes multimedia package because it had a ton more cool features, plus, I could always hook my Pixel 2 XL to the car's system and "android auto" that way.</p><p>However, that's not the point of my post.</p><p>The point of my post is that Mercedes can be used for both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, where you can literally tell either digital assistants to perfrom functions, such as start the car, lock the doors, etc…. </p><p>Sooooo…..</p><p>I setup the Google Assistant to work with the Mercedez Me "Action" and….boy, oh boy…..it's AWESOME with a capital "A." The Google Assistant acts like a third party, where you (the user) ask her to tell Mercedes Me to perform the action you want. For example "Hey Google, tell Mercedes Me to start my engine." People, when I performed this action and went to check my car….OMG, it worked! Here is another thing, you can even command The Google Assistant (via Google Home) to talk to Mercedes Me. When you do that, you hear another female voice come from the Google Home speaker and you can just say commands to her.People, this is sooooooooooooo COOL! It's supercool! In this cold tundra called the Northeastern USA, 1) I no longer have to physically go to my car to start it to warm it up, and 2) I don't even need to go to my phone to use the Mercedes App to remote start the engine.</p><p>All in all, I think it's safe to say that whenever I buy any new tech, whether it's an appliance or not, it's gonna have to be compatible with the Google Assistant (or Alexa). It just works. </p><p>Also, unlike Microsoft, Google want this space. Google said we are now going to be an "AI" company. Boy did they mean it. All this AI stuff is great, I encourage everyone to buy this great tech and enjoy……before they revolt and kill us all (lol).</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#236254"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>My 2014 Chevy Truck has this button on the remote. You push it and the truck starts. OMG!!!</p><p><br></p><p>The action takes probably 1/8th the time it takes you to do the same with Google Assistant if not less. Google or no one else knows that I did this. It works from anywhere in my house. It works from my 3rd floor office at work to the parking lot below. OMG!</p><p><br></p><p>Apple Car play in my Truck is pretty amazing as well with my iPhone, nice and private as well.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
Lateef Alabi-Oki
<p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">Didn't Paul write an article last year about how Android Auto and Android TV were failures?</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">LMAOF!</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">Anyway, it's nothing short of impressive how Google in just 3 years is looking to be the player most likely to dominate the living room and our homes.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">Today Google sells more variety of hardware for the home than Apple, Microsoft, or Amazon. They also have a larger and far-reaching platform and ecosystem in Android, the most dominant computing platform on earth. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">And they have the most powerful virtual assistant to tie their hardware efforts to their AI prowess in ways that are both unique and compelling. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);">This year's CES just confirmed what I already knew last year, Google, not Amazon nor Apple, remains the company to beat the not so distant future where computing is ambient. And if they play their cards right, they will become the platform for Ambient computing. </span></p><p><br></p><p>Amazon has to be given a lot of credit though, they brought out in Google what no other company has been able to do. They've forced Google, for the first time ever, to compete in a way I've never associated with the company. And I think it's made Google a better company in general.</p><p><br></p><p>Let's be honest, the Google Assistant wouldn't have evolved as fast as it has done in the last year without Amazon.</p><p><br></p>