The competition to advance generative AI technology is now extending to digital assistants, which have become many people's first encounter with AI companions. Google is one of the key players in this evolution, actively revamping its Assistant by integrating generative AI capabilities, as detailed in an internal email sourced by Axios.
Peeyush Ranjan, Google Assistant's vice president, along with product director Duke Dukellis, emphasized the need for their team to prioritize high-quality product experiences. They expressed their enthusiasm for the transformative potential of generative AI, highlighting the opportunity to develop a more powerful Assistant powered by cutting-edge language model technology.
The email also indicated that Google is focusing on mobile devices for the initial integration of this technology. However, there is currently no timeline for deploying these updates to smart home devices or specifics about the new features. Google may leverage Bard, its AI chatbot, for interactions with Assistant users, or they may explore entirely new approaches.
In light of these changes, Google is reorganizing internally, merging its Surfaces and Services teams, and is reducing its workforce by a "small" number, although the exact figure remains undisclosed.