Google is continually working to make its Assistant AI as smart as can be, and in the latest move to do just this, the company announced a host of new tools that developers will soon have access to.
One of the biggest announcements is that apps for Google Assistant can now be created in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Indian English. Consumers won't necessarily be able to take advantage of this right away, but we imagine that developers will work on getting their apps to support these new additions ASAP.
Also announced is a new API that will allow Google Home to send content to a phone that also has the Google Assistant on it. For example, if you're ordering a sandwich from Panera Bread by talking to Google Home, the speaker will be able to send you a receipt to your phone so you can complete the purchase.
Google Assistant has been pretty great for carrying on natural conversations for a while now, but that point's about to become even stronger with a feature that Google is calling "implicit discovery."
Implicit Discovery allows users to say more natural-sounding commands to perform actions within apps without having to specifically mention said app by name. For example, you could say "Ok, Google, track my flight" without having to specifically call out the KAYAK app by name. It's a simple change, but one that should make using Assistant apps a lot more second-nature.
As for user-facing features, Google is revamping the interface on your phone for finding new apps that are compatible with Assistant. "What's new" and "what's trending" categories will be added so you can quickly find the best apps that are currently available, and these will be joined by subcategories within the app directory so you can pinpoint the exact type of app you'd like to find.
In addition to these bigger changes, Google is also letting users say "cancel" to quickly end a conversation that they're having with an Assistant app, applications can show suggestion chips that allow users to sign up for daily updates from it, Assistant apps can finally tap into push notifications, and more.
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