Google’s largest event of the year, Google I/O, is underway in Silicon Valley. This is where the tech giant showcases its latest innovations.
Amazon’s Echo smart speaker, with personal assistant Alexa, has been so well-received that even the co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak said it could be the next big platform— prophetic words as Google unveiled a competitor named “Google Home.”
“It’s like having a voice-activated control to the real world whenever you need it. You can do the basics like setting alarms and timers or managing to do lists or shopping lists. We’re also designing Google Home to connect your smart home seamlessly,” said Mario Queiroz, vice president product management, Google.
Google Home builds on Google’s work in natural language, allowing two-way conversations to not only control entertainment, but also home management and daily schedules.
Google introduced its own messaging app—Allo. Using machine learning, Allo offers suggested replies to messages and even photos sent to you. Allo’s algorithms can even recognize that a dog is in this photo and even what breed it is. Google also unveiled a new video calling app—Duo—that works on both Android and Apple devices and allows for a live preview of who is calling before you answer.
Google also touted its work in Artificial Intelligence, citing its historic victory by its computer program AlphaGo over a world champion player of the Chinese board game Go.
“In the second game, there was a move 37 by AlphaGo. It changed the course of the game. And is now widely considered one of the most beautiful moves in tournament play. It was not just an intuitive move, but a very creative move,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO Google.
Another AI innovation is a robotic arm that uses deep learning to pick up objects. Watch as the arm nudges the stapler away to pick up the yellow object, a move that was not written in code, but rather learned on its own.