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Changes we're making to Google Assistant

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Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#161

Post by seatac76 »

ChilledTonic wrote: post #67

I was watching a friend use Siri the other day (I've never used an iPhone) and I was blown away by how much it could accomplish in comparison to Google Assistant. He said he used Siri as the default way of interfacing with his phone, which I found interesting. Reading this list of removals, especially the removal of CALLER ID, on video calls no less, an insane choice - how much could that possibily cost to maintain?…

Siri is objectively worse in almost every way imaginable. I find that hard to believe. I have both an iPhone and a work Pixel Pro, the difference between them is night and day. Siri can’t get basic spelling right, let alone accomplish complex tasks. To date it does not hold context at all, GA is far better in that regard.

MKBHD Comparison:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2MGqmuEdtU

Somewhat old but still holds true imho.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#162

Post by gleenn »

happymellon wrote: post #121
pflenker wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of what you mentioned in your first sentence, any ideas to improve discoverability are horrible. I hate it when Alexa does not play my podcast right away but explains to me how I can change episodes. I despise Alexa for telling me that I have some notification before starting my timer. And so on - any voice only attempt to explain me something without me asking for it means adding a lot of friction between me…

A usual conversation my wife had with Google: > okay Google set a timer for 15 mins Certainly, and did you know I can also set an alarm for 6 am in the kitchen? > Fuck off Google

I'm not dying for them to record more than absolutely necessary, but I really hope all the voice ui engineers do log curses to know when their app is doing annoying stuff. The number of times these things screw up I definitely get really spicy and hope that feedback makes it back.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#163

Post by gerash »

When Amazon echo came out, all the flaws of voice assistant were visible and it looked like a glorified kitchen timer but it's surprising how little they improved over the years. Nonetheless Google executives rushed to copy Alexa.

At the same time the same executives did not incorporate LLMs into the Assistant when Google invented the tech.

These layoffs should've fired all those dead-weight executives and the CEO for good measure yet we see the rank and file losing their job

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#164

Post by fsmv »

0xcafefood wrote: post #154
fsmv wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new DMA law prevents combining data across products

Does it prevent it? I thought it just required explicit consent from users.

That's true it's allowed for users to consent to it.

I don't know that this is the reason people are noticing less cross over but DMA certainly makes it harder.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#165

Post by dylan604 »

esafak wrote: post #77
afavour wrote: post #30

To me this highlights the core failure with all these voice-driven UIs: you have absolutely no idea what is possible and what isn't. Discoverability is zero, which makes big changes like this even more disruptive. I've already decided that I'm done with Google's smart assistant stuff in any case. I have a Google Home with a screen in my kitchen and the most-used feature (aside from just existing as a photo frame) was…

It's not just voice, but conversational interfaces in general that have this discoverability problem. That means chatGPT. I'm glad people are discovering it, if you excuse the pun. CUIs are not a panacea, not a replacement for conventional UIs.

it reminds me of all the old text games like Zorg or whatever where they gave you a cursor leaving you to figure out what you could ask/say/do. which is fine for a game. it sux for a "tool"

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#167

Post by ckrailo »

afavour wrote: post #30

To me this highlights the core failure with all these voice-driven UIs: you have absolutely no idea what is possible and what isn't. Discoverability is zero, which makes big changes like this even more disruptive. I've already decided that I'm done with Google's smart assistant stuff in any case. I have a Google Home with a screen in my kitchen and the most-used feature (aside from just existing as a photo frame) was…

Home Assistant can cast dashboard/media/etc to your display, has shopping lists, and has voice assistance. https://www.home-assistant.io/

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#168

Post by jurassicfoxy »

_dain_ wrote: post #107

Reading this thread is kinda bizarre to me. Do people actually ... talk to their phones? Like for real, not just in cringeworthy scripted adverts? I've never used any of these voice assistant things and nor does anyone I know. It always seemed like a huge gimmick to me. Am I just in a bubble?

I definitely exist in a bubble, but it's especially useful while driving. Or for searches "Hey Siri, what is the capital of Zambia?" is faster than typing it, and you don't even need to reach for your phone. (Of course Siri is awful and can barely do basic things.)

We use it quite a lot.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#169

Post by theptip »

alganet wrote: post #130
theptip wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This problem can be solved pretty soon though; given a good enough LLM, and perhaps for power users a configurable set of integrations, you should be able to make any language request, translate it into verbs, and ask for an explanation if you get confusing results. With in-context learning perhaps you can even get to the holy grail of “when I ask for X, please always apply interpretation Y” for personalization. I th…

Makes sense. What is a good LLM though? I think there's a lot of questions hidden in that part of the solution.

Yeah, beware “no true Scotsman” here. But I think it’s a reasonable hypothesis that GPT-4 is “good enough” or close to it, and when the current assistant services get wired up to LLMs we’ll see a step function in their utility. Apple and Google are both definitely working on this. OpenAI’s voice mode is closer capability-wise, but doesn’t have the integrations; that would be an obvious product for them to do this year.

If this doesn’t seem obvious in 1yr I’d say the hypothesis is likely wrong.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#170

Post by ksjskskskkk »

RexM wrote: post #143
pflenker wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of what you mentioned in your first sentence, any ideas to improve discoverability are horrible. I hate it when Alexa does not play my podcast right away but explains to me how I can change episodes. I despise Alexa for telling me that I have some notification before starting my timer. And so on - any voice only attempt to explain me something without me asking for it means adding a lot of friction between me…

Yes... when it does anything other than what I ask, it makes me feel like it's wasting my time. Alexa recently started responding with "Good afternoon! " and it irks me more than it probably should. I've looked to see if I can turn it off and can't find the option. I don't need pleasantries from a machine.

goal of assistants is to create a parasocial relation with your young kids so that advertisement is more effective.

notice how young kids associate ok google with a way to install games and reach their YouTube videos.

all those feature are for that end. you're not the target market. Good night!

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