The Google Search is getting AR features to enhance search results. Duplex will now make filling in details easier than before.
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- Google will let users utilise augmented reality to see a 3D model of what they are searching.
- Google Lens can offer live translation with on-device AI processing.
- The Duplex on the web will fill up online forms on behalf of users.
Google is doubling down on everything smart that it has revealed in the last few years so much so that now the company is increasingly bringing its expertise in artificial intelligence, and machine learning to change its core product: Search. At the IO 2019, Google showcased a number of new features that are coming to Google Search and Google Assistant, and the idea is that instead of just pulling in some information from here and there the Google service should let users "do more".
First the Search. The Google Search is getting a number of enhancements but two are the key ones: Ability to use augmented reality to create search results that are basically information in virtual 3D models. And two, ability to search podcasts. The podcast feature is simple: Google says that it will actively index podcasts and not just on the basis of their names but also on the basis of their content. This, the company says, will be done using speech recognition and machine learning systems that Google has perfected for the task.
The second feature, which will available on smartphones, will let users utilise augmented reality to see a 3D model of what they are searching. This will have different use cases. For example, if you want an idea of how an elephant looks like you will be able to search for elephant, tap on the 3D search and then project elephant's virtual 3D model in front of you. Similarly, if you search for a shoe you will be able to use the same functionality to check out the virtual 3D model of the shoe right in your room using a smartphone.
"With new AR features in Search rolling out later this month, you can view and interact with 3D objects right from Search and place them directly into your own space, giving you a sense of scale and detail. For example, it's one thing to read that a great white shark can be 18 feet long. It's another to see it up close in relation to the things around you," says Aparna Chennapragada VP, Google Lens and AR.
Search is also getting some additional features with the help of Google Lens. The idea it seems is to add a digital layer to the physical world. Aparna talks of several use cases. "Say you're at a restaurant, figuring out what to order. Lens can automatically highlight which dishes are popular--right on the physical menu. When you tap on a dish, you can see what it actually looks like and what people are saying about it, thanks to photos and reviews from Google Maps," she says.
The same feature will also be used, says Google, to make the world slightly more accessible to people who can't read. Google cites the example of Urmila from Uttar Pradesh. She can't read but of late, as part of Google's pilot project, she is using a variant of Google Lens on Android Go phone to read signboards or even the school books that her kids have. She apparently looks at a signboard using the Google Lens app, which first translates the signboard and then reads it in the local language that in Urmila's case iOS Hindi.
Smarter Google Assistant
There are a number of new features Google has added to the Virtual Assistant that lives in its phones and smart speakers in the last few years. But at the Google IO 2019, the company revealed that it has managed a sort of breakthrough in the AI and machine learning systems that power the Google Assistant and that breakthrough is now allowing it do some unique things with it. The breakthrough is that Google has been able to condense the AI systems that power Google Assistant from 100GB to half GB. This means now the Google Assistant can be extremely smart without connecting to the web and can locally run on a phone.
"Today, we've reached a new milestone. Building upon advancements in recurrent neural networks, we developed completely new speech recognition and language understanding models, bringing 100GB of models in the cloud down to less than half a gigabyte. This breakthrough enabled us to create a next-generation Assistant that processes speech on-device at nearly zero latency, with transcription that happens in real-time, even when you have no network connection," says Manuel Bronstein Vice President of Product, Google Assistant. "Running on-device, the next generation Assistant can process and understand your requests as you make them, and deliver the answers up to 10 times faster."
Because the Assistant is now faster it is also more chatty and can hold conversations by quickly finding context and without requiring "hey Google" all the time. It also gets a new feature that Google calls "Personal References."
"You'll be able to ask for things more naturally like, What's the weather like at mom's house this weekend? or, Remind me to order flowers a week before my sister's birthday," says Bronstein.
Even as it makes the Assistant smarter, Google is also adding to it some bits from Duplex, an AI system that the company revealed last year. Duplex was mostly about AI and voice interactions, such as calling a restaurant and making a reservation. But this year Google has come out with Duplex on the web. The functionality for it is similar to earlier Duplex: do the mundane work that otherwise users do. The Duplex on the web will fill up online forms on behalf of users.
"Today we're extending Duplex to the web, previewing how the Assistant can also help you complete a task online Just ask the Assistant, 'Book a car with national for my next trip,' and it will figure out the rest. The Assistant will navigate the site and input your information, like trip details saved in your Gmail or payment information saved in Chrome," says Bronstein.
Google notes that the new Assistant will come to users with the new Pixel phones later this year while the Duplex will be available around the same time in the US and UK "with the Assistant for rental car bookings and movie tickets."
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