Google has become a massive wealth of different products and services, and while many will know Google for things like YouTube and Gmail, the Internet firm is slowly but surely taking over the home, too. The recent launches of Google Home and the Google Assistant tell as much, but Google have been inside many homes for years now, thanks to the Chromecast line of devices. Where the new Assistant is concerned, Google is soon to offer up keys to the city, so to speak, starting next month with the launch of developer tools to make it even easier for people to add their own functionality to the wider platform.
Starting in December, Google will open up the Assistant in three distinct ways, one of which will be allowing users to embed the Assistant itself inside of third-party hardware, a la Amazon’s Alexa. Direct Actions will allow services and products to offer simple, recognizable commands for the Assistant to connect other devices and services together and finally, Conversation Actions, will allow developers to add in more sophisticated features, like offering access to a bank account, going back-and-forth with the user to complete the task at hand. Given Amazon’s success with Alexa, it’s arguable that being able to embed the Assistant to other hardware is the most important change here, as it will make the Assistant more accessible and approachable to a wider range of customers, not just those that want to buy a Google Home speaker, for instance.
Google’s competition is not just with Microsoft’s Cortana or Apple’s Siri, as Google want to use the Assistant to lock down the entire smart home, not just your phone or computer. Alexa has been doing a very good job of this already, as Amazon continue to add more and more support for different services and products, the AI from the eCommerce giant has only gotten stronger over time. Google will no doubt be able to forge strong partnerships and deals with big name brands over the coming year, and the launch of an SDK such as this one will only help expand the reach and build awareness of the Google Assistant for a long time to come.
