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Changes we're making to Google Assistant

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Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#211

Post by wvenable »

esafak wrote: post #80
matt_heimer wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are probably statistically some of the lesser used features and since there were layoffs in Assistant ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38947224 ) they are probably looking to shrink the codebase being maintained. Assistant has trained our household into thinking that its pretty limited in what it can do so everyone in our home only uses it for basic things. Since Google's assistant can't accomplish more th…

Just because an LLM can better parse what you're saying it does not mean the business logic to act on it exists. The feature discoverability and churn problem will still exist.

This feature already exists for LLM's -- you can provide them with the list of actions that it can do. This is how you integrate with an API. You describe your "turn on the lights" endpoint and so when you say "I need a bit more light" and it knows it can do something about it.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#212

Post by verelo »

throw_nbvc1234 wrote: post #114
fragmede wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss Inbox too, but Gmail now has snooze functionality built in.

I had to stop using gmail/snooze on my ipad because the snoozes wouldn't be synced with my phone. Seems like such a poor implementation vs inbox.

yeah thats the struggle i had too. Found I'd snooze on my phone but then they're in my desktop.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#213

Post by wvenable »

Metacelsus wrote: post #6

Whenever there's a vague press release about "changes we're making", it's bound to be changes for the worse.

I laughed when I saw the headline, saw it was Google, and then the article is just a list of everything they are removing. It's almost parody.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#214

Post by jjulius »

walterbell wrote: post #95
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…

> Alexa for telling me that I have some notification before starting my timer Device > Settings > Sounds > Notification > none "Do Not Disturb" will suppress notifications without affecting alarms and timers.

I'm an Android user and have never owned an iPhone, but that sounds to me like you're talking about a push notification setting that is completely separate from an Alexa response setting. I could be wrong, but my guess is that that's why you're getting downvoted.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#215

Post by alejo »

jpcfl wrote: post #11
napoleoncomplex wrote: post #4

A lot of the changes just don't make any sense? Some of the features removed: - Using your voice to send an email, video or audio message. You can still make calls and send text messages - Rescheduling an event in Google Calendar with your voice. You can still schedule a new event. - Asking to take certain actions by voice, such as send a payment, make a reservation, or post to social media. You can still ask Assista…

My guess is that a lot of these features are hard-coded, and they are deprecating them in order to replace them with a more generic LLM-based assistant.

If this was the case, wouldn’t had been better to axe these features once they were ready to roll out the new LLM-based functionality?

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#216

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

downWidOutaFite wrote: post #190
RandomWorker wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny fact is that this is core use case I use siri to add things to the reminders app which I have a smart list called "shopping list." It's amazing how great this is, and how many times I use this.

I think this kind of highlights the ios vs android user mentality. afavour is annoyed that google is trying to lock them into only using google's shopping list while you love when apple "just works" within their ecosystem.

> I think this kind of highlights the ios vs android user mentality.

I think for most folks, affordability is more about reality than mentality.

Personally, I'd have no use for a free iphone. Android handsets are the only option for the functionality I use. Been that way since WinMo6.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#217

Post by oxygen_crisis »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #127
ketralnis wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be better and misunderstand less often?

Human syntax sometimes has inherent ambiguities.

So ask for clarification. State your interpretation and give an opportunity for the speaker to confirm or clarify. This isn't some new intractible issue, this has always been a fundamental aspect of communication in a natural language.

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#218

Post by esafak »

wvenable wrote: post #211
esafak wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because an LLM can better parse what you're saying it does not mean the business logic to act on it exists. The feature discoverability and churn problem will still exist.

This feature already exists for LLM's -- you can provide them with the list of actions that it can do. This is how you integrate with an API. You describe your "turn on the lights" endpoint and so when you say "I need a bit more light" and it knows it can do something about it.

The users of LLM-based products don't know that; its programmers do. And what happens when an integration is added or removed; how is the user supposed to know?

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#219

Post by culopatin »

SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #89
pprotas wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Siri is better than Google Assistant these days… that says more about how bad GA is, not how good Siri is. I say this as an owner of two HomePod Minis

Siri is good enough to get by, but is definitely not better than Google in my opinion (and several friends that have both Google Nest and Apple HomePod devices). Siri is sorry she can't help, misunderstands things, or straight up ignores requests way too often. I will say that the non-display Google devices are often more helpful than the ones with displays. The displays want to show you stuff, but the non-displays w…

I’ve had the Google assistant for a long time now, and it went from almost always having an answer to “sorry, I don’t understand ” or whatever the default is 30% of the time

Re: Changes we're making to Google Assistant

#220

Post by aussieguy1234 »

esafak wrote: post #218
wvenable wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feature already exists for LLM's -- you can provide them with the list of actions that it can do. This is how you integrate with an API. You describe your "turn on the lights" endpoint and so when you say "I need a bit more light" and it knows it can do something about it.

The users of LLM-based products don't know that; its programmers do. And what happens when an integration is added or removed; how is the user supposed to know?

So, a programmer with LLM knowledge will have a startup idea to wrap all of this up in a nice little app. You say "turn on the lights", the app passes that to the LLM.

The LLM, having been pre trained on what to do, calls the API to turn on the lights.

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