A bigger personality is to be expected of Google's voice assistant. The search engine giant has recruited Emma Coats, a storyboard artist who worked on Pixar’s Scottish Highlands-set animation “Brave,” to help create a more “chatty” assistant. Coats now helm the Google Assistant’s dialogue, which will be used on phones, computers, and other smart devices. The US-based artist has also worked on “Monsters University” before and also creates her short films.
Expect a more fun AI
As part of the Personality Team, Coats’ job involves writing “chatty” dialogue for the AI assistant.
Google ventured out last year to make its AI assistant more well-rounded by trying to give it a personality, but the idea never materialized. The move was supposed to get users see the Google Assistant as a better contender than Siri and the rest, even considering a childhood backstory for it. However, all semblance of whatever personality was initially planned somehow got lost in the middle and Google made no effort in explaining why either.
It seems, though, that the company is still bent on making the vision a reality by coming up with “fun things the Assistant can say and do.”
Can the Google Assistant outdo Siri?
Apple released the first interactive voice assistant on smartphones in 2011. Known to everyone as Siri, it’s still considered the best voice assistant to date, and Apple continues to roll out updates each year.
Google has been trying to surpass Siri’s smart capabilities, but things have gotten even tougher now that Samsung’s Bixby, Microsoft’s Cortana and HTC’s Sense Companion are getting their own spotlights.
It’s no secret that Google fell far behind Apple, whose voice assistant is getting smarter each day. Even with the release of the Google Now cards and Google Voice feature, the company still failed to match up.
Things changed last year, however, where the business came up with its own assistant that can do way more than Siri, according to the company itself.
While Siri’s response had been rated most accurate and its appeal is still strong among users, the Google Assistant is AI-based and evolves based on how the owner uses it, making it more personalized.
It’s clear that Google wants to take over Apple’s throne, going to great lengths of hiring a Pixar artist.
There have been no updates to Google’s AI since Coats’ interview Friday last week. It’s likely, though, that the company will issue a statement soon enough, considering the news is already out.
