Google rumored to be working on Siri & Facebook-like chatbots for new messaging app
Google is allegedly developing a new mobile messaging app that would include chatbots, capable of answering users' questions by scouring the Web and other resources.
Facebook M
Google VP of communications Nick Fox has been leading a team on the project for at least a year, sources explained to the Wall Street Journal. There's no indication of when the app might launch, or what it might be called.
The technology is said to be similar in concept to the chatbots used by a Telegram, a 200 Labs app. Fox reportedly offered to buy 200 Labs in October, but was turned down.
Google's project will likely let outside developers build chatbots of their own, one of the sources said. The Journal added that people asking questions in the app would be guided towards specific bots.
Such an app could offer competition for Siri, the virtual assistant on iOS devices, as well as Facebook's fledgling "M" service linked to Facebook Messenger. Manned partly by humans, M can not only handle regular search requests but tasks like shopping, travel bookings, or even holding a place in a phone queue.
For Google the move may be a necessary step to keep it ahead in search. If services like Siri and M become dominant, they could potentially cut into Google's marketshare.
Facebook M
Google VP of communications Nick Fox has been leading a team on the project for at least a year, sources explained to the Wall Street Journal. There's no indication of when the app might launch, or what it might be called.
The technology is said to be similar in concept to the chatbots used by a Telegram, a 200 Labs app. Fox reportedly offered to buy 200 Labs in October, but was turned down.
Google's project will likely let outside developers build chatbots of their own, one of the sources said. The Journal added that people asking questions in the app would be guided towards specific bots.
Such an app could offer competition for Siri, the virtual assistant on iOS devices, as well as Facebook's fledgling "M" service linked to Facebook Messenger. Manned partly by humans, M can not only handle regular search requests but tasks like shopping, travel bookings, or even holding a place in a phone queue.
For Google the move may be a necessary step to keep it ahead in search. If services like Siri and M become dominant, they could potentially cut into Google's marketshare.
Comments
I would be 100% behind a Siri-based chatbot though.
"Google rumored to be working on Siri & Facebook-like chatbots for new messaging app"
Siri-like chatbot? Isn't the article discussing something that Siri doesn't offer?
I remember when Siri first came out and the haters said it was a stupid idea. now all the tech firms are doing it.
If I could open Siri and ask a question in text, I could save a HUGE amount of wasted time. That would be brilliant.
I agree adding text commands to Spotlight might be useful.
But Siri voice recognition is very accurate for me.
I had to go to Settings and set my English accent. Have been using it everyday for navigation, setting reminder, and occasionally text my wife.
Merry Christmas, everybody! ⛄️
Like you, I have thought it might be down to accents. I believe Apple expects you to have a Cockney accent for instance if you set the language to "British English," not realising perhaps that there are multiple English accents and many English and British people around the world who have no accent at all, but merely prefer to use English instead of American. Its been many years now and my suspicion is that Apple doesn't seem to have made any allowances for the possibility that an American might want "proper" English settings or that a Frenchman might be living in China, but using Belgian language settings etc. It all seems very crudely done and overly biased towards America as a lot of Apple's things are.
Spotlight is a good suggestion and the exact spot in the OS where a "Siri chatbot" should actually be located, but it fails also unfortunately. All that happens if you type in a question in Spotlight is that it presents you with three options: Search the Web, Search the App Store, and Search Maps. The last two are things I rarely need and even if I did, I could just search within the actual maps app or the store app. The "Search the Web" option covers the majority of what Siri does of course, but then I could also just open the browser and search there which would be one step less and give the same result.
In other words, when you are using Spotlight, you aren't actually using Siri. There is no connection to any of the sources that Siri uses to get the answer to your question other than the three manual options which are a waste of time as described. One is far better off just opening Safari and typing the question into the search bar. Especially since the vast majority of the time, Siri will just take your mangled request and shoot it over to Safari anyway.
Also, you have to turn off "Siri Advertisements" (they call them 'suggestions') to use Spotlight without going insane anyway (at least IMO). You will be bombarded with massive amounts of useless and irrelevant information otherwise (advertisements for local businesses, apps & app services essentially), even though the results for the search will be the same.
If you want your question to be looked up on the web, you also then still have to select "Search the Web" to get Internet results, which as I have argued above, is an extra step as opposed to merely opening the browser and typing your search in there. At least that's the way it looks to me. Perhaps there is a setting which I overlooked?