Google's Efforts to React to AI

 

The Assistant project leads have reportedly seen prospects for a "supercharged" Google Assistant powered by AI, according to an internal email obtained by Axios.

The email doesn't go into specifics about the goals of the new Google Assistant team, but based on what we already understand about generative AI, the possibilities are quite broad.

Like ChatGPT or their own Bard, the Assistant will be able to use data from throughout the internet to inform its responses. Although services like Alexa, Siri, and the Assistant have long been able to respond to simple inquiries, the addition of AI will make the responses far more insightful. The interaction will be far more human-like if they can draw on context, experience, and black-and-white information in addition to their capacity to follow a conversational thread rather than just respond to a single question.

According to the email, Duke Dukellis, the company's product director, and Peeyush Ranjan, vice president of Google Assistant, "we remain deeply committed to Assistant and we are optimistic about its bright future ahead."

The best course of action, at least for the time being, seems to be to leave generative AI out of Google's smart home products until a later date. There are probably still a few wrinkles for the tech giant to work out on that front, given public distrust over privacy concerns and claims of bogus adverts.

When generative AI will be included into Google's smart home devices is still a mystery, and for the time being, it's probably best that way. There are probably still a few kinks for the internet giant to work out on that front, given public distrust about privacy concerns and claims of bogus adverts.

Axios reported that according to the email, Google plans to reorganize the Google Assistant team and make a "small number of layoffs" in order to refocus on generative AI.

More Google Layoffs?

The precise number of layoffs is unknown, but according to the Axios article, the Google email references "dozens" of layoffs in the team's Google Assistant, which has thousands of employees right now. The Google parent company, Alphabet, already reported earlier this year that it had 12,000 employees, representing a reduction of 6% of the workforce overall.