The Google Assistant is going global(blog.google)
blog.google
The Google Assistant is going global
https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/google-assistant-going-global/
72 コメント
Don’t worry, in about six to twelve months Google will release at least one product to competes with their own. With a little luck it’s better. Of course they’ll just scrap it about six to eight months after that, but it’ll be fun while it lasts!
Honestly, this comment depresses me so much. We've all got Stockholm Syndrome.
I didn’t really take the “need it to succeed“ line seriously. That’s kind of just something people say.
Is it really that crazy to operate in one ecosystem like that? Is spreading my data over a couple massive companies somehow worth it IRL? I doubt it.
Is it really that crazy to operate in one ecosystem like that? Is spreading my data over a couple massive companies somehow worth it IRL? I doubt it.
Nah, better to sell yourself to one company than to many in my opinion.
Keep in mind to use some of Google's paid services, so you get proper customer support, just in case. (GSuite, Pixel, GCP, Ads)
Keep in mind to use some of Google's paid services, so you get proper customer support, just in case. (GSuite, Pixel, GCP, Ads)
> I am totally embedded in the Android/Gmail/GSuite ecosystem. I want it to succeed. I need it to succeed.
Is it just me, or does anyone else find this kind of statement concerning? Google literally controls all of your data and you're forced to rely on them for services.
Is it just me, or does anyone else find this kind of statement concerning? Google literally controls all of your data and you're forced to rely on them for services.
People should ask themselves what would happen to them if Google (or Facebook or Microsoft or Apple) flagged their account for any reason, be it believing they're a bot, not liking the content they post, etc. and permanently closed their account.
How would they recover their access to their other accounts? Do they have backups of the information they rely on? What is the burden or cost of this risk?
How would they recover their access to their other accounts? Do they have backups of the information they rely on? What is the burden or cost of this risk?
I did ask myself and I have a plan for each of those things. Except for FB, because I don’t give a damn.
Basically the plan is to own your domain name, and build things around email that can be moved to any provider.
Basically the plan is to own your domain name, and build things around email that can be moved to any provider.
What do you do for the email address that fundamentally controls the domain registration?
There's also a high danger in a loop there, where your own domain supplies the email address that controls the domain.
And if you don't go with that approach, what email provider do you then trust to provide that external validation point for the domain.
I don't see how you can escape the risk.
There's also a high danger in a loop there, where your own domain supplies the email address that controls the domain.
And if you don't go with that approach, what email provider do you then trust to provide that external validation point for the domain.
I don't see how you can escape the risk.
Why is there danger in the loop, exactly? I’ve never needed access to email to sign into my registrar (AWS) and change DNS records.
Get on a VPN and try to log from there... It'll ask you to verify your login by sending you a code via email (because it detected your login from a different country and classify it as "unusual activity".
I’ve logged onto AWS from many different countries around the world and have never seen this. Maybe because I have 2FA enabled anyways?
Could because you have 2FA, or could because you have been login from different countries right from the start (hence considered "usual"). Another case where I have seen AWS login ask for verification is when email bounces, which is exactly the case discussed here.
One thing you can do for DNS and your host provider for your mail server is use a separate gmail account that forwards to your normal domain. It's unlikely that you'd lose both your DNS / mail server AND access to that independent gmail account.
I wish service provider for essential services allowed more than one email. A work around is to setup up more than one "root" account, each setup with a different email provider.
One thing you can do for DNS and your host provider for your mail server is use a separate gmail account that forwards to your normal domain. It's unlikely that you'd lose both your DNS / mail server AND access to that independent gmail account.
I wish service provider for essential services allowed more than one email. A work around is to setup up more than one "root" account, each setup with a different email provider.
Well really, the problem here is lack of proper support which would solve the issue. This is solved by using their commercial services. (At least for Google and probably Microsoft) This way you get proper support.
I never really heard about someone getting banned for being a bot on Apple services.
I never really heard about someone getting banned for being a bot on Apple services.
I had to get a Facebook account in order to support login through FB for an apps at work, and got into the dreaded "you needed to upload a picture" issue. It would unlock for a few hours and then asked me again.
I tried everything, emails, FB forums, twitter, etc... Even wrote a message explaining the issue on top of my picture I uploaded. It finally worked after about a month, after I just uploaded the same picture again one more time.
If you allow people to login with one of those system, make sure to provide an alternative that has no dependency on anybody else.
I tried everything, emails, FB forums, twitter, etc... Even wrote a message explaining the issue on top of my picture I uploaded. It finally worked after about a month, after I just uploaded the same picture again one more time.
If you allow people to login with one of those system, make sure to provide an alternative that has no dependency on anybody else.
Often times there isn't even an alternative.
Sometimes you get lucky and there's a company with a decent privacy policy but still no end to end encryption.
There are virtually no products with "okay" full encryption and federation (eMail and torrent like protocols for sharing big files are the two I can think of).
Sometimes you get lucky and there's a company with a decent privacy policy but still no end to end encryption.
There are virtually no products with "okay" full encryption and federation (eMail and torrent like protocols for sharing big files are the two I can think of).
sorenjan(1)
Currently on Android in order to use assistant at all I have to allow Google to record everywhere I go, every app I launch on my phone, and every web search I make on any logged in device. This is way more of my privacy I’m than I’m willing to give up. So until Google allows me to use assistant with some or all of these turned off, even if it reduces its effectiveness, Google assistant is turned off on all my devices.
100% agree, it's unacceptable that it requires so many privileges when they're positioning it as a key UI for the whole Android experience.
I think the dev community will start looking at hard forks as the new 'true' path rather than Nexus/Pixel if they continue down this path. It's already prevented me from buying the new pixel, what's the point of having the latest vanilla Android if it's going to spy on you anyway
The best way to let them know is to open the Google app, open the menu and choose 'Send Feedback'
I think the dev community will start looking at hard forks as the new 'true' path rather than Nexus/Pixel if they continue down this path. It's already prevented me from buying the new pixel, what's the point of having the latest vanilla Android if it's going to spy on you anyway
The best way to let them know is to open the Google app, open the menu and choose 'Send Feedback'
Finally. I'm Polish and I've always felt that my language / location has been treated as a second class citizen since ever. Only way for me to use Google Assistant was either by switching to all English or by using some gutted version when I'm speaking Polish.
"We’re also making the Assistant multilingual later this year, so families or individuals that speak more than one language can speak naturally to the Assistant."
As a French Canadian who changes languages multiple times a day and who refers to things in both languages constantly, this is really great.
As a French Canadian who changes languages multiple times a day and who refers to things in both languages constantly, this is really great.
Having a multilingual assistant is gonna be so useful, happy to see that feature coming this year.
The only thing I still miss to use the assistant all day long is offline routines. I put my phone on flight mode before going to bed and having the possibility to say "OK Google, wake up" to enable Wi-Fi and have the Google assistant telling me about the emails I've received during the night would be great.
The only thing I still miss to use the assistant all day long is offline routines. I put my phone on flight mode before going to bed and having the possibility to say "OK Google, wake up" to enable Wi-Fi and have the Google assistant telling me about the emails I've received during the night would be great.
While this is great, as a french Google Home owner, Google Assistant is way more powerful in English than in French. The gap is so big and I haven't seen it improve in the last year...
For instance, multi-user as yet to come to non-English languages, and it's been out for almost a year.
For instance, multi-user as yet to come to non-English languages, and it's been out for almost a year.
While not exactly what you're asking for, they do mention in the article Multilingual support. So you'll be able to use it in both French and English.
This may solve some problems you're speaking of.
This may solve some problems you're speaking of.
I'm glad they've gone for global availability, but I'm still not a fan in my own personal sense for using this. I cannot entirely rationalise my non-latent hostility, I just know experientially I don't want an assistant active on any device I own, or have deployed near me. (I have had it turned on, I did not like the experience of accidental engagement, or sweeping its sound-captures when I tested what it had found)
Ubiquitously on, sound-tasting devices do not fill me with glee.
Ubiquitously on, sound-tasting devices do not fill me with glee.
I was going to troll and ask would it support Gaeilge but since it still thinks "Turn the volume down" in a Belfast accent means turn it up max, I doubt it :)
Not to mention getting it to play Malfeitor by Watain on Spotify...
I actually bought my Google Home in Belfast and brought it to Dublin because they're still to get in the Republic of Ireland. Yet it seems to find the southern accent easier and any location based stuff I've used it for here works fine.
Still feels like magic sometimes.
Not to mention getting it to play Malfeitor by Watain on Spotify...
I actually bought my Google Home in Belfast and brought it to Dublin because they're still to get in the Republic of Ireland. Yet it seems to find the southern accent easier and any location based stuff I've used it for here works fine.
Still feels like magic sometimes.
'ensure “Ok Google" and "Hey Google" work when the screen is off, and build other custom integrations.'
No comment
No comment
That's IMO a necessary feature if you buy into the entire concept of voice interfaces. When I have my phone in my hands (so that I can turn the screen on), I have much better interfaces available than voice.
As a multilingual person who speaks two languages on a daily basis, being able to interact through the language of my choice seamlessly is something I'm really looking forward to.
Curious to see if they remember Portuguese is also spoken in Europe, Africa and Asia, and isn't quite the same as in Brazil.
The search and advertising teams know that. The voice folk... Not that much, from my experience with their APIs over the past year.
This is actually quite a significant problem across the board, since Brazilian Portuguese keeps drifting apart in both formal and informal vocabulary and grammar. They pretty much walked all over the language accords of the past couple of decades (both academic and governmental), and some of the more strait-laced linguists in the Continent wanted to classify it as a creole (partly to annoy their counterparts in Brazil).
This is actually quite a significant problem across the board, since Brazilian Portuguese keeps drifting apart in both formal and informal vocabulary and grammar. They pretty much walked all over the language accords of the past couple of decades (both academic and governmental), and some of the more strait-laced linguists in the Continent wanted to classify it as a creole (partly to annoy their counterparts in Brazil).
Do we have any data on the size of this market? I've never found any assistant to be useful and haven't heard anyone else ever say they used one. This still feels like a massive dead-end to me.
This is the potential Echo killer. Let's see if it works out for them.
How long before I can say "Alexa ask Google to..." :P
Given how well cough the assistant has been able to cope with accents in English (it hasn't very well at all) it will be interesting to see how well this works in practice.
That's a surprise for me, I'm not a native speaker and in both French and English, it has done a great job at understanding my accents.
Same here. I find the Google Assistant's voice recognition very near perfect. I'm not a native english speaker but I would think that would make it harder than easier.
Accents are a hard problem in voice recognition. If your accent is weirdly unique (like mine) there's already a deviation from the baseline data used to train those models.
That being said, I feel both G.Assistant, and Alexa both interpret what I'm saying most of the times. In contrast, Siri rarely understands me well. When I set up reminders, 95% of the times Siri fails to comprehend me correctly.
I don't know what they are doing at Apple, but you would think they would have nailed this already (with the millions of Siri capable devices they have sold already).
That being said, I feel both G.Assistant, and Alexa both interpret what I'm saying most of the times. In contrast, Siri rarely understands me well. When I set up reminders, 95% of the times Siri fails to comprehend me correctly.
I don't know what they are doing at Apple, but you would think they would have nailed this already (with the millions of Siri capable devices they have sold already).
A question from ignorance (I don't have any of these devices), but couldn't the weirdly unique accent problem be solved by reading a list of standard vocabulary words a few times to the device while training for accuracy?
Albeit from May last year, I thought this video showed capability with accents in English quite well compared to other smart devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNx0huL9qsQ
Happy to hear about more recent tests or counter examples!
(Disclosure: I work at Google, my Google Home tends to get my Canadian English pretty well)
Happy to hear about more recent tests or counter examples!
(Disclosure: I work at Google, my Google Home tends to get my Canadian English pretty well)
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Will there ever be Chinese support?
Google isn't neglecting the Chinese. Chinese is just brutal for literally everything. It's hard for humans, it's hard for machines, it's hard for humans designing for machines for use by humans. It's hard to read, write, hear, speak, represent.
Voice UX for English, where linguists and AI and money are being thrown, is still very much in its infancy. Let's give them a little time.
Voice UX for English, where linguists and AI and money are being thrown, is still very much in its infancy. Let's give them a little time.
I suspect this is less about difficulty and more about markets. Simply put, my guess is that there is a decent reliance on google services which are banned in China.
That may deprioritize it, but it is still the third most spoken language in the US[1]. Yes, it is less important than many European languages, but it will still be important even if you completely ignore China.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States
What does Chinese mean here? One of the main Chinese language? Or all Chinese languages?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language
I was ignoring that for simplicity. Presumably Mandarin, unless otherwise specified, but who knows. My Chinese is pretty rusty, but Cantonese and other dialects were always unintelligible to me even when I could speak decently.
Even if you exclude China, I believe Chinese is still a top-30 language.
That doesn't sound impressive?
We’re all talking about an announcement that Google Assistant is supporting over 30 languages.
I would have to agree with /u/danimal88's analysis that it's probably more about market than difficulty. For humans, spoken fluency in Chinese is not nearly as difficult as it's made out to be until you add written Chinese. Voice to text in Chinese is very close to perfect. I suspect that it's actually easier for machines to interpret than English, considering the fact that English is so damned inconsistent in pronunciation, grammar, and phonemes.
Unless you limit yourself to the official dialect of Mandarin, Chinese also has lots of inconsistencies, partially because the majority of the population being able to speak Mandarin is actually a fairly recent development. A large minority has trouble distinguishing retroflex consonants from alveolars. Not everyone's tones have the same pitch contours. Some dialects also mess with the grammar, e.g. by tacking certain parts of speech onto the end of a sentence. So if you want to capture the full variation of the language as it's actually spoken, you'll have similar difficulties as with English.
I would definitely limit it to the official dialect of Mandarin. Consider that French and Italian are both supported by Google Assistant and they have a lexical similarity of .89, which is high enough to be considered dialects of each other [0]. Meanwhile a high estimate of Cantonese and Mandarin lexical similarity pegs it at .62 [1]. I think it's fair to treat support for Chinese "dialects" as different languages.
I suspect the only reason Chinese is categorized as a single language is ignorance and Eurocentrism. German and English have roughly the same lexical similarity as Cantonese and Mandarin, for example. Considering Chinese one monolithic language is like considering all European languages dialects of "European."
[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/11b0fg/til_f... [1]: http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b3178970
I suspect the only reason Chinese is categorized as a single language is ignorance and Eurocentrism. German and English have roughly the same lexical similarity as Cantonese and Mandarin, for example. Considering Chinese one monolithic language is like considering all European languages dialects of "European."
[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/11b0fg/til_f... [1]: http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b3178970
> I suspect the only reason Chinese is categorized as a single language is ignorance and Eurocentrism.
Ignorance, perhaps, but not necessarily Eurocentrism. Viewing Chinese as a single language – often with Mandarin as a prestige "dialect" of it – is a common position of Han nationalists.
Attempts by some Western linguists to treat the Chinese varieties in a way that emphasizes their mutual unintelligibility and downplays the importance of the common writing system, have even been attacked by said Chinese nationalists as being "anti-China". It is very similar to how, decades ago, many Russians bristled at attempts by foreign scholars to view Ukrainian as a language in its own right, since their position was that Ukrainian and Belarusian are simply some aberrant or low-prestige forms of the Russian language.
Ignorance, perhaps, but not necessarily Eurocentrism. Viewing Chinese as a single language – often with Mandarin as a prestige "dialect" of it – is a common position of Han nationalists.
Attempts by some Western linguists to treat the Chinese varieties in a way that emphasizes their mutual unintelligibility and downplays the importance of the common writing system, have even been attacked by said Chinese nationalists as being "anti-China". It is very similar to how, decades ago, many Russians bristled at attempts by foreign scholars to view Ukrainian as a language in its own right, since their position was that Ukrainian and Belarusian are simply some aberrant or low-prestige forms of the Russian language.
I wasn't talking about Mandarin and Cantonese as "dialects", I was talking about different dialects of Mandarin as spoken in Beijing (which the official dialect is based on) versus e.g. Sichuan. Those are mutually intelligible similar to the varieties of English, but they are markedly different in details of their pronunciation, word choice, and occasionally grammar. European languages aren't the only ones with hard-to-understand regional dialects.
That makes sense, but I don't see why this is any more of a barrier to adopting Chinese than it is for any other language - like you said, European or Romance languages have difficult regional dialects, but somehow they're widely supported by Google Assistant.
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"Unless you limit yourself to the official dialect of English, Indo-Germanic also has lots of inconsistencies, partially because of the majority of the population being able to speak English is actually a fairly recent development..."
Just saying, unless you talk about written Chinese, the big languages in China are not even intelligible amongst each other - less so than English, French or German. They are not dialects that can be trained together, they are very very distinct languages. (Of course official CCP-speak says the opposite, but they have never been fans of facts.)
Just saying, unless you talk about written Chinese, the big languages in China are not even intelligible amongst each other - less so than English, French or German. They are not dialects that can be trained together, they are very very distinct languages. (Of course official CCP-speak says the opposite, but they have never been fans of facts.)
I hope my other reply further downstream makes it clear that I did not mean my comment as you interpret and you just didn't see it.
But just in case, I want to make clear that by "the official dialect of Mandarin", I meant the one dialect of the Mandarin language that is officially recognized by the CCP. Whereas by "Chinese" I meant the language spoken by almost everyone in China nowadays, i.e. Mandarin (I did that because I was replying to a comment that was talking about Chinese, so I used their wording).
Thus, with a correct understanding of my intentions, the equivalent for English would be "Unless you limit yourself to the official dialect of British English, English also has lots of inconsistencies ..." (where the official dialect would be the Received Pronunciation).
But just in case, I want to make clear that by "the official dialect of Mandarin", I meant the one dialect of the Mandarin language that is officially recognized by the CCP. Whereas by "Chinese" I meant the language spoken by almost everyone in China nowadays, i.e. Mandarin (I did that because I was replying to a comment that was talking about Chinese, so I used their wording).
Thus, with a correct understanding of my intentions, the equivalent for English would be "Unless you limit yourself to the official dialect of British English, English also has lots of inconsistencies ..." (where the official dialect would be the Received Pronunciation).
How well does Apple's Siri work with Mandarin? I always got the impression that it did pretty well.
> Chinese is just brutal for literally everything.
I've heard Chinese ex-colleagues how characters are so much better instead of icons on smartphones... Maybe they just wanted the messy system where most of population can't write a grammatically correct sentence (oh, you can read Chinese, but I can write!) to be useful somewhere...
I've heard Chinese ex-colleagues how characters are so much better instead of icons on smartphones... Maybe they just wanted the messy system where most of population can't write a grammatically correct sentence (oh, you can read Chinese, but I can write!) to be useful somewhere...
I hope they add it soon. Google Assistant would be perfect for my wife's grandparents, who speak barely any English.
However so far Google voice assistant hasn't worked great for me. Most of the time it gets it wrong. It is really frustrating while driving. I am a native English speaker, albeit Australian.
I've made this comment before - it is astounding that Google have banked their entire reputation on people getting a positive experience through saying "Ok Google".
Amazon have Alexa. Apple have Siri. Microsoft have Cortana. If any of those become a negative experience overall, they can just invent a new AI with a new name.
But at the moment, saying "Ok Google" ends with me having an experience of frustration or disappointment. This is a big risk with your brand?!
You can breakup with Siri and stay with Apple. It's going to take an amazing Google Assistant to over come the hundreds of wasted voice experiences I have suffered thus far.
Good luck, Google.