What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a personal digital assistant? Siri? Alexa? Perhaps Cortana? What about Google? Does the term ‘Google’ ring a bell? No, we are not talking about the search engine that answers all your queries from ‘how to cure a broken heart’ to ‘how to lose weight’ to even ‘how to kiss’ (yikes!). We are talking about the search engine giant’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based personal digital assistant ‘Google Assistant’.
For most millennials, Google is a part of our everyday life. From traffic assistance to nearby food joints, our lives are incomplete without Google. And if you happen to own a high-end smartphone, waking up Google by saying ‘OK Google’ or ‘Hey Google’ seem like a part of the daily affairs.
But have you ever wondered why Google’s personal digital assistant doesn’t have a name like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana or Amazon’s Alexa?
Probably no? Well, the answer might quite surprise you. For those of you who don’t know, Google unveiled Google Assistant at Google I/O conference in May last year. According to Google insiders, not giving Google Assistant a name and by extension, a personality was a deliberate move.
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The company wanted the digital assistant to be a tool that the users had instead of a companion like Siri, which is known for its sassy replies. Jonathan Jarvis, who was a former creative director at Google Labs told the Business Insider that the Google wanted Google Assistant to be a ‘superpower’ and personifying it would have changed the relationship. Another reason why Google refrained from using a ‘name’ as the company didn’t want to assign it a gender or make it seem ‘too American’.
To put it simply, Google Assistant will get the work done, the only flipside is that it won’t be able to entertain you like Siri, or even bore you like Cortana (sorry folks!). While the reason might seem…well, sweet…but ‘Google Assistant’ sure lacks that personal touch that would make us go running towards it. Nevertheless, Google Assistant works just fine and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t love it as much.
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