Google will “supercharge” Assistant with AI that’s extra like ChatGPT and Bard

Google is planning to replace Assistant with options powered by generative AI, according to a report from Axios. In an e-mail obtained by the outlet, Google tells employees members that it has already began exploring a “supercharged” Assistant powered by the latest massive language fashions (LLM), much like the know-how behind ChatGPT and Google’s personal Bard chatbot. In keeping with the e-mail, “A portion of the workforce has already began engaged on this, starting with cellular.”

As a part of this modification, Google says it’s condensing the workforce that works on Assistant. The e-mail obtained by Axios states that the corporate is “eliminating a small variety of roles,” though it’s unclear what number of workers are affected. In keeping with Axios, Google laid off “dozens” of staff. The Verge reached out to Google to verify this, and we’ll replace this text if we get extra data.

“We stay deeply dedicated to Assistant and we’re optimistic about its shiny future forward,” Peeyush Ranjan, the vp of Google Assistant, and Duke Dukellis, the corporate’s product director, write within the e-mail.

Whereas Google doesn’t elaborate on what sorts of options it plans on bringing to Assistant, there are some fairly huge potentialities. For instance, Assistant may faucet into the identical know-how that powers its AI chatbot, Bard, presumably permitting it to reply questions primarily based on the data it gleans from throughout the online.

“Tons of of hundreds of thousands of individuals use the Assistant each month and we’re dedicated to giving them top quality experiences,” Google spokesperson Jennifer Rodstrom says in a press release to The Verge. “We’re excited to discover how LLMs will help us supercharge Assistant and make it even higher.”

It’s nonetheless not clear when Google plans on bringing this know-how to its good house merchandise, although — and I don’t suppose lots of people (myself included) can be solely comfy with that, given the potential privateness implications.