“It’s a clear signal that Google wants to get as many partners into its AI ecosystem as possible.”
Google is aiming to connect more third party partners and devices to its Google Assistant AI platform, if its big new announcement for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show offers any indication.
Detailing its Google Assistant innovations for the new year in a blog post, Google started off with the introduction of Google Assistant Connect, a platform aimed at helping device makers to easily integrate Google Assistant into their solutions. “For example,” the company explained, “a partner could create a simple and inexpensive e-ink display that continually projects the weather or your calendar, while using Assistant Connect to deliver content from your linked smart speaker.”
Promising that this platform would go live “later this year”, Google invited interested device makers to fill out an online form to learn more. It’s a clear signal that Google wants to get as many partners into its AI ecosystem as possible.
Further to that end, the company also announced various new products in which Google Assistant prominently features. The AI system is being used in the new Lenovo Smart Clock; in a KitchenAid Smart Display from Whirlpool that is designed to display recipes and to control connected smart home devices; in the Sonos Beam and Sonos One smart speakers; and in forthcoming smart TVs from Samsung and smart micorwaves from GE, among other products.
It all points to a strategic initiative on Google’s part – and shared by rivals in this space – of seeking to extend its voice-based AI assistant platform as deeply as possible within the bedrock of smart home ecosystems; and given the Google Assistant’s latest high-profile partners, the company seems to be making good progress.
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