Google Assistant becomes smarter, to get six new voices
San Francisco, May 9: Making the competition in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered assistants space tougher, Google on Tuesday announced that people will soon have a choice of choosing from six voices, including one of musician John Legend, to talk to "Google Assistant".
At its annual developer conference Google I/O, the company said these six options, which feature both male and female voices, would be rolled out later this year.
Company CEO Sundar Pichai said that Google has been working on newer and more life-like version of its spoken AI that features natural voice that is "closer to how humans speak."
The improvements include more natural pauses "that have meaning" and other subtleties to help create a "more natural dialogue" with Assistant.
This new version of the Assistant is built on a tech machine learning technology called Wavenet, which the company started building out some 18 months ago.
Now instead of having to say "Hey Google" or "OK Google" every time to give a command, users only have to do this one time and then have a conversation with the Assistant.
Google calls this feature "continued conversation" and it'll roll out in the coming week.
The new powerful Assistant can now distinguish between two sentences that are joined by "and" and can reply with two different query-specific answers in one go.
The tech giant wants to bundle its voice assistant into every device and app and is bringing Google Assistant in Google Maps. It'll be available on iOS and Android this summer.
Users can now share estimated time of arrival with their contacts without touching the device.
Further, the Assistant would soon be able make calls for you to make reservations at restaurants or salons.
It would also teach children to use polite language when interacting with the Google Assistant's "Pretty Please feature. When kids say "Please" during a command, they would receive thanks from the virtual assistant in response.
Google says that "Pretty Please" feature would launch later this year.
The company also brought Assistant-powered Smart Displays. These devices would be launched in July.
Pichai also showcased a revamped Gmail and announced another new feature called "Smart Compose," which will help users write emails using machine learning technology.
As you type, Smart Compose pops up suggestions about what you might want to write next - similar to Google autocomplete.
"As the name suggests, we use machine learning to start suggesting phrases for you. All you have to do is hit tab to keep auto-completing. In this case, it understands the subject is ataco Tuesday.' It takes care of mundane things like addresses so you can focus on what you want to type," Pichai explained.
The feature would be rolled it out to all users this month.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
