I was going to write a lengthy piece about some remarkable new technology that Google introduced this week at its I/O Conference, where developers get a first look at what the company is bringing to market soon. But before I started, I noticed that David Pogue has already posted a story about the highlights.
My favorite — the one that made me sit back and say “Wow!” — is halfway down his page, with CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrating the Google Assistant calling a hair salon to make an appointment for a woman, using artificial intelligence to create a completely natural-sounding female voice (complete with an occasional “um…”) that also recognizes what the human at the other end is saying and asking.
Watching this, I wondered what the people at Apple and Amazon must be thinking, and how they’re being forced to play catch-up-to-Google. Watch the video, then go read David’s full piece.