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Google Assistant will soon let you mute alarms or answer calls without saying 'Hey Google' on phones
'Hey Google,' you got annoying
You can do a lot using Google Assistant on your phone or smart display with nothing but your voice. However, saying "Hey Google" for doing every simple thing can get annoying very fast. In April, we discovered that Google was working on fixing this with a "Quick phrases" feature in Assistant that would let you skip saying the obligatory hotword for basic tasks. More details about this feature have since emerged, and now, 9to5Google has managed spot how exactly Quick phrases will work on mobile initially.
An activation phrase, like "OK Google," "Hey Siri," or "shut the hell up Bixby," has been a core element of the digital assistant ever since Google started this stuff up years ago. But soon it might not be necessary, at least for specific interactions where it makes sense. A recent app teardown indicates that Google is working on dynamically listening for commands based on recent events, doing away with the need for the precursor command.
'Hey Google, piss off the neighbors'
A mad genius built a 'TallyWhacker' that noisily activates via Google Assistant command
Do you recall when you were a kid, and there was nothing quite so fascinating as an old-fashioned spring doorstop? You know, the kind that goes "sproi-oi-oi-oing" with any errant tap? A Reddit apartment dweller, having presumably endured one late-night Riverdance rehearsal too many, decided to weaponize this experience.
Google wants to improve hotword detection on Android in a way that protects your privacy, too
A tall order, but it all starts with a toggle
The infusion of federated learning into Gboard has helped Google pick up on popular terms in the moment by collecting anonymized data and spitting back out a delta of new information. The company is now bringing federated learning to Google Assistant on phones to help it better detect when you say (or when you aren't saying) "Hey Google."
'Hey Google' command appears to be working again on some Wear OS watches
Most users say it still hasn't come back
A little while back the signature "hey Google" Assistant commands stopped working on Wear OS watches. Well, that's not completely true: a few months ago it stopped working, and it took that long for enough people to notice that Google said it would do something about it. Based on a few user tests, that appears to be resolved, at least for some devices.
Google finally addresses plans to fix 'Hey Google' on Wear OS
Hey Google...hey Google...HEY GOOGLE?!
Wear OS has frequently been subjected to criticism, and the stagnation in development also doesn't help its cause. What further seems to prove how little Google cares about the platform is that "hey Google" hotword detection has been broken on Wear OS for months. The issue has officially been acknowledged only now, and Google says that a fix is on the way.
Google opts all users out of voice data collection, explains what it does with the data
Learn about what happens to your data before opting in again
If you've used any of Google's voice services for Assistant, Maps, and Search, you will have gotten a lengthy notice about some major changes as to how and why it collects audio of what you say. These actions are a response to last year's revelations about how humans were contracted to review those clips and how some of them got leaked. The top-line takeaway here is that every user has been opted out of data collection.
Love them or hate them, the first-generation Pixel Buds were more than Google's first foray into the wireless headphones arena. Launching with an exclusive instant language translation feature powered by Assistant, the Pixel Buds were an initial look at what Google's AI savvy could do for the hearable product category. New information gathered by 9to5Google suggests that Pixel Buds are about to get just a little bit smarter via a new – yet currently non-functional – Assistant hotword recognition setting appearing on some devices.
There are plenty of settings that you can toggle for Google Assistant covering everything from privacy limits to languages to which voice you want to hear from. It's always been a scramble, though, to tap into those settings as they're several taps into your Google Account settings. Now, with the latest update to the Google app, Pixel users will be able to access those settings from their system settings.
Google Assistant knows a surprising number of things. Ask it for the distance between the earth and the moon or who won the last Superbowl, and it will give you the correct answer right away. But like any virtual assistant, there are times when it just doesn't get it. It either takes things too literally or comes up with a completely unexpected answer. We've collected a few of these instances over the past months and thought we'd brighten up your weekend with them.
Google Assistant-equipped speakers have already been able to give recaps about the news, and Smart Displays took that a step further by also showing relevant videos. However, you were out of luck if you wanted to hear specific topics read out to you. Google is now fixing that, so long as you're in the US.
Google's speech recognition technology is insanely good - perhaps the best in the industry. But did you know Google stores all your voice searches? Every time you say "Ok Google" or "Hey Google," a snippet of audio containing the command is sent to the company's servers, where it is deciphered. These audio snippets are stored indefinitely (to improve accuracy), unless you delete them and opt out of future collection.
For years, the Google Search app for Android has listened for the voice command "Ok Google." This carried over to Google Assistant, but it hasn't become any less awkward to say. When the Google Home was first introduced, it could listen for "Hey Google" in addition to the old phrase.
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You know how you can say both "OK Google" and "Hey Google" to Google Home and it will respond to the two hotwords without any discrimination? The same isn't true of Assistant on your Android phone: it only answers to "OK Google." Wait, scratch that, it wasn't true as the command is now working on phones too.
All of Google's products have adopted the "OK Google" hotword in recent years, but Google Home presents an interesting challenge. What if you have another device around with OK Google enabled? It can be a mess, so now there's also "Hey Google."