Google Home will get a generative AI boost, too
Google superpowered Assistant in the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro this week, but the slew of generative artificial intelligence (AI) updates coming to the Google Home app is sure to be a head-turner for smart home enthusiasts.
The Google Home app will now have generative AI built-in to let users ask questions like, "Did any strangers come to my door yesterday?", and they can have the Home app respond in natural language like a personal security guard.
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Rather than a security guard, however, the feature will resemble a personal assistant, as Assistant with Bard will likely power it. This change is Google's latest update to its virtual assistant, which gives it the generative AI of the AI chatbot, Bard, powered by Google's large language model, PaLM 2.
Google is also featuring a new summary of users' smart home activity. This summary will let users quickly glance at their recent history and ask Google Home questions about it, like how many packages they received or how many people were detected.
A new "Help me script" feature is another way that generative AI is coming to Google Home. This feature joins Script Editor, which is now in its preview phase, and allows users to write and edit code to create more custom automations.
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"Help me script" will use generative AI to create code, much like ChatGPT and Bard can. Describing what you want the code to do in natural language will get "Help me script" to generate the code you need to enter into Script Editor.
The ability to code to create specific automations that are unavailable by default in the Google Home app helps users make routines like, "When the doorbell rings, flash the lights in the office and make an announcement over the speakers."