8 ms·

Start building Actions on Google

204 points by bajames 10y ago

tomcart 10y ago
Hmm, the lack of installation on the skill is interesting and an obvious contrast to Alexa/Echo. Should we be expecting an arms race here for sensible invocation names?
- adamVoiceLabs 10y ago
  Great question - we are under NDA, but I can share that Google is going to make priority 1 -> 10 the consumer experience, and priority 11 how to improve visibility through SEO. Think SEO to get the lion share of traffic.
  - IshKebab 10y ago
    What so if I say "Ask Lyrics for the lyrics to Yesterday by the Beatles" it will do some kind of ranking on all the skills that have 'Lyrics' as their invocation trigger and choose the 'best' one?
  - jacoblambda 10y ago
    One thing I am interested in is this. Will there be an ability for users to create aliases for their apps or set preferences for which apps they want to use? For an example, say a user had a specific recipe app he wanted to use, instead of referring to either its exact name or hoping that when asking what recipe they should make that he gets the right app will they be able to go into their settings either online or in an app and assign the app as his preference or rename it to just "chef" or something simple?
  - tomcart 10y ago
    Will be interesting to see how that pans out. If google makes a different search ordering solution for me its ok because i get to choose on the results page, whereas with this its like pressing I'm feeling lucky every time.
- Ajedi32 10y ago
  Seems like names on the "App Store" [are going to be regulated by Google][1] to prevent that: > There will be app store-like policies in place to prevent things like keyword camping — one developer using another company’s name for their action or another developer trying to jump on owning important keywords like “shopping.” Douglas says that “this is a large reason for there being a review process. Much of the policy compliance is this process of name selection. “ [1]: http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13878444/google-home-developers-actions-ecosystem-app-store http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13878444/google-home-devel...
jasonallen 10y ago
Amazon lost the phone and tablet wars, so they shifted their focus to the voice assistant market, and are now ahead of competitors with their Alexa skills SDK. It's great to see Google now step up too. I expect Microsoft and Apple follow suit. It's pretty easy to imagine how one could port simple 'voice command' apps between platforms ('hey, order a pizza/uber/etc...). Over time, however, these platforms should emerge into substantial AI. To be useful they will need to remember and understand more subtle contexts. "Hey, what's the score of the game" will have to remember that I like the Seahawks and Sounders, but only the Sounders are playing live right now, etc... I like Google's choice to include a "conversational" model to the application design. "Let me talk to <x>" is pretty natural and allows <x> to then have full control of the interaction. Alexa's "ask <x> to <command>" model makes it easier to fire off simple commands, but awkward for deeper ones.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Google Now is about 95% of the way there on the sports thing (it is always showing me information about a couple of teams it knows I am interested in, including game status).
  - Pfhreak 10y ago
    I'm finding the opposite -- it's always showing me information for teams I'm not interested in. I'm interested in games that are significant cultural events -- my city's team making the playoffs, the cubs winning the World Series, etc. Outside of those times, I have no interest. Yet despite ignoring stories, I get frequent updates about players, teams, and events I have zero interest in. Also, despite searching regularly for e-sports events, I see no updates on the teams in the LCS, or in Starcraft II's various tournaments. Or EVO. The sports events I do care about seem to have no support.
    - disillusioned 10y ago
      There's an option you can select in Google Now to specifically disregard these teams, either through the action menu on the card, or in the preferences section of the Google Now app. Merely ignoring or swiping away the cards doesn't change Google's estimation of your preference of the teams.
Ajedi32 10y ago
Pretty neat, but from a user's perspective I'm a little disappointed that the current implementation seems to require me to explicitly tell Google what app I want to interact with. I'd rather be able to just ask Google "Find me a movie ticket for Rogue One on Thursday" and have it be able to infer that I want to use the movie tickets app installed on my phone, than for me to have to explicitly say "Let me talk to Fandango" first. That said, it looks like deeper integrations are coming: > We'll continue to add more platform capabilities over time, including the ability to make your integrations available across the various Assistant surfaces like Pixel phones and Google Allo. We'll also enable support for purchases and bookings as well as deeper Assistant integrations across verticals.
- IshKebab 10y ago
  There are two actions - conversation actions (where you have to say "Tell Uber I want a cab") and direct actions ("get me a cab"). Somewhat understandably the direct actions are limited to certain domains that Google supports. It isn't a free for all.
  - Ajedi32 10y ago
    Yeah, I guess considering that there's no installation process for actions that's kind of a necessity. Maybe as the technology matures Google will start getting smarter about being able to infer which provider I want to use for particular types of actions, but I recognise that's likely to be a rather difficult problem to solve.
- hirsin 10y ago
  The problem with protocol activation is that there are a million different endpoints and you either * Keep a list of every single one that apps can opt into. This is how you end up with "midsized_sedan_carwashing" in an enum list. It's a developer drain for Google/Microsoft/Amazon and creates "wait for the next release for 'largetruck_carwashing' so you can release your app". * Let apps run wild and claim any protocol (in this case, the word "movie ticket") they like. This is how you get malware claiming the .pdf or http:// http:// protocols. * Let certain special apps run wild. This is how you end up with "Buy Tickets With Fandango" advertised on the side of the box while Brown Paper Tickets or another startup is left in the cold/ "ask brown paper tickets for..." No solutions here, it's a hard space if you want to protect users but also enable developers equally. In the first two cases you also need to create confusing UI for the user to select which app they want for movies vs drycleaning.
nevi-me 10y ago
I was looking at the page earlier today, wondering when it's being launched. Great timing as my days at work are over for the rest of the year. I'm working on a public-transport chatbot in South Africa, planning on making it available on Twitter, Facebook, and Allo (though less users here). Going to be a fun December and January!
- it_learnses 10y ago
  good luck! do you have a progress blog or something?
  - nevi-me 10y ago
    Our website is movinggauteng.co.za, I'll blog about progress on our blog over the weeks
- iso-8859-1 10y ago
  Why not add South Africa to https://github.com/schildbach/public-transport-enabler https://github.com/schildbach/public-transport-enabler ? That way, the eventual voice/chatbot support could support other networks too. I already made an IRC chatbot for this API: https://github.com/ysangkok/console-transit-trip-planner https://github.com/ysangkok/console-transit-trip-planner
sorenjan 10y ago
Why won't they release Assistant for all Android phones? Nobody uses Allo, and Pixel is a small minority of the market.
- nevi-me 10y ago
  I got excited too soon, seems very limited. I thought that they would at least start with Android seeing as that's where most users would be. Imagine as a developer spending 20 hours building Actions only for there to be no audience.
- agildehaus 10y ago
  > Pixel is a small minority of the market Exactly that. They're trying to promote Pixel phones by making Assistant an exclusive feature.
  - sorenjan 10y ago
    Then why would you spend any time developing for Assistant?
- komali2 10y ago
  So what's the difference between google now, the google voice search thing at the top of my android galaxy s5, the pixel assistant, and the allo assistant? Because they are all different, to my eyes. They all have different commands they can do. It's just obscene.
  - Shooti 10y ago
    There is/was no such thing as an assistant called "Google Now". That was an illusion/poor branding. There's "Voice Search", typing into the Google search box with your voice. VS Assistant, a Google's chatbot interface.
dominotw 10y ago
This is awesome. This was the biggest drawback of Alexa to build any meaningful apps. Its like they read my comment on HN from 3 days ago :D https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13073236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13073236
- ausjke 10y ago
  With LEX and Polly anyone can essentially build its own Alexa chatbot nowadays. Alexa will just be Amazon-version of it. I expect more apps and more devices will compete with Alexa as different products. Api.ai from Google can also be integrated into many popular apps(twitter,facebook messenger,etc), not sure if it's apps-agnostic, i.e. I write an Android app and can use google assistant directly, do I need any special API-key or something from Google first?
IshKebab 10y ago
Google says you don't need to enable skills or actions, you can just say "Tell <invocation trigger> XXX". Can anyone work out what happens if there are multiple actions registered with the same invocation name?
- Ajedi32 10y ago
  My guess is they simply won't allow that. Every action will require a unique name.
talawahdotnet 10y ago
This looks pretty cool. The api.ai interface looks much more approachable (and logical) than Alexa for someone who is just getting started. I played around with Alexa a little bit, but creating a bunch of json and text files to map utterances, intents, schemas, etc felt way too clunky and unintuitive. The api.ai UI for building interactions looks way more approachable and developer friendly. On top of that it looks like they are building out support for multiple platforms (Slack, FB, Alexa, Telegram) so you can (maybe) have a central integration point for your all your chat apps. Some of the integrations look very basic though. The biggest downsides are that I have never heard of these api.ai guys before and the pricing beyond their free tier (1 query/sec) requires you to contact them, yuck. Edit: Looks like I spoke too soon. Apparently they were acquired by Google recently[1]. I was wondering why Google was making this startup so central to their product. Now they just need to be more transparent on pricing, but I guess they are testing the waters right now. 1. https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/ https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/
pkates 10y ago
API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] <wait> when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care about) You want to control the lights: Amazon: "Alexa, turn off the [kitchen lights]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [the house] <wait> [turn off] the [kitchen lights]" Perfect: "[keyword], turn off the lights" (contextually turn off the lights immediately nearest the source of the voice. optionally "turn off the [named] light" You want to activate a scene: Amazon: "Alexa, [turn on|activate|start] [scene name]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [the house] <wait> activate [scene name] Perfect: "[keyword], [time for a movie|it's bedtime|good morning]" I haven't seen or heard of a single "Conversational" app for the Echo that has real usage. I just don't think that's the killer app (at least until they get smarter). The current killer apps are being able to: - Set timers/alarms - Ask quick questions (measurements, weather, time) - Control home automation I just don't think the experience of talking back and forth to a bot is that enjoyable (again, yet, maybe in a Her future).
- julianpye 10y ago
  Spot on! At the core of the bot trend is the fact that users do not want to navigate through menus anymore. They are tired of searching for that one icon on screen after screen so they can enable a function. So they just want an interaction at the root that feels natural and gets them to the goal quickly.
- vthallam 10y ago
  I don't think that the newly released Actions always expect a conversation. In scenarios where it makes sense to just reply with an answer you can still do that. I am guessing you just have to use something like 'Hey Google, can you check when is the next bus to SFO on <app name>"
- drampelt 10y ago
  From the documentation, they also support Amazon Echo style actions such as "Tell Personal Chef to find me chicken recipes" or "Ask $name to $action_phrase". See https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-and-discovery https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-...
ausjke 10y ago
Any info on the pricing? Amazon always has its pricing info along with any announcements. and yes I like this chatboot API from google, to compete with amazon lex/polly. Competition will bring out the best for developers.
- igh 10y ago
  It's free.
  - ausjke 10y ago
    just registered and got an email saying, for pricing please email sales@api.ai, so I guess it is not free, and it needs not to be, just not enough straightforward info comparing to Amazon's announcements.
  - deanCommie 10y ago
    It's not, though, is it: https://api.ai/pricing/ https://api.ai/pricing/
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- talawahdotnet 10y ago
  Their basic unsupported tier (up to 1 query/sec on avg) is free. You have to contact them if you want pricing for a supported plan. This type of opaque pricing normally annoys me, but they were recently acquired by Google so I expect the pricing to eventually become more transparent and most likely be fairly reasonable. https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/ https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/
godmodus 10y ago
to be honest, considering Google's 0-fucks-given for its non-paying users, which is the majority, i hesitate to touch and build on any of its tech/APIs. someone correct me if i'm wrong, constructive criticism welcome.
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  I've gotten great service from their Play store customer help. I can't recall a single bad experience I've had with them. They've not only solved my issues but exceeded my expectations with some of them. I'd say that qualifies as "giving a fuck" about their non paying customers.
mark_l_watson 10y ago
I was very impressed by the demos at the last Google IO, but decided to not go all-in on Google for privacy reasons. That said, their integrated platform is looking great. Some Google services I wouldn't want to live without: Play Music, Play Movies, Google Cloud Platform, and their neat One a Day charity platform. Otherwise, I am doing a 180 degree flip and getting all Apple gear after many years of mostly using Linux. I like the competition between Google/Apple/Microsoft/Amazon because even though I would like to more than four major players, four is enough to drive feature and price competition.
amelius 10y ago
Why isn't open-source catching up in this field?
- Ambroos 10y ago
  I'd guess because you need a lot of data and a LOT of work to get anywhere close to where literally all competition is already. Even Besides Apple, Amazon and Google no other company really has a decent voice assistant. Even Microsoft doesn't really manage to get up to the same level. Besides that, a voice assistant is never just a voice assistant. It's only useful if it already has a big range of services to integrate. Apple, Amazon and Google already had market-dominating services they could integrate to provide a decent starting point. You could see it in how each assistant evolved. Siri was always very much aimed at interacting with your phone. Messaging, playing music, local things. Things Apple already did well without a voice assistant. Alexa's main selling point at the start was it's integration with Amazon for shopping. It's still very important and probably the main reason I don't expect to get Alexa in Belgium any time soon since we don't even have an Amazon store. Google Now then couldn't really do much for you, but it's incredible at providing you with the right information, because it's powered by the world's biggest search engine (by quite a margin). Cortana for example doesn't really have any killer features, because Microsoft still doesn't have any market dominating services besides Windows (which doesn't really benefit from a voice assistant interface). So, in short, it's not about the voice assistant. It's about the ecosystem. And those are incredibly hard to build and probably impossible to open source.
javiercr 10y ago
Just tried to send the form to apply [1] but it seems to be broken. It says please complete all required fields despite that I completed all of them (double checked) 1. https://assistant.google.com/developer/eap/ https://assistant.google.com/developer/eap/
- bradabrams 10y ago
  I am sorry you had a problem with the form. I just doubled checked and it seems to work now. Can you please try again, and if not drop me a line http://twitter.com/brada http://twitter.com/brada
mikebay 10y ago
Would google focus on paying taxes worldwide action ? Sad, Google!

204 points by bajames 10y ago

Hmm, the lack of installation on the skill is interesting and an obvious contrast to Alexa/Echo. Should we be expecting an arms race here for sensible invocation names?

adamVoiceLabs 10y ago
Great question - we are under NDA, but I can share that Google is going to make priority 1 -> 10 the consumer experience, and priority 11 how to improve visibility through SEO. Think SEO to get the lion share of traffic.
- IshKebab 10y ago
  What so if I say "Ask Lyrics for the lyrics to Yesterday by the Beatles" it will do some kind of ranking on all the skills that have 'Lyrics' as their invocation trigger and choose the 'best' one?
- jacoblambda 10y ago
  One thing I am interested in is this. Will there be an ability for users to create aliases for their apps or set preferences for which apps they want to use? For an example, say a user had a specific recipe app he wanted to use, instead of referring to either its exact name or hoping that when asking what recipe they should make that he gets the right app will they be able to go into their settings either online or in an app and assign the app as his preference or rename it to just "chef" or something simple?
- tomcart 10y ago
  Will be interesting to see how that pans out. If google makes a different search ordering solution for me its ok because i get to choose on the results page, whereas with this its like pressing I'm feeling lucky every time.
Ajedi32 10y ago
Seems like names on the "App Store" [are going to be regulated by Google][1] to prevent that: > There will be app store-like policies in place to prevent things like keyword camping — one developer using another company’s name for their action or another developer trying to jump on owning important keywords like “shopping.” Douglas says that “this is a large reason for there being a review process. Much of the policy compliance is this process of name selection. “ [1]: http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13878444/google-home-developers-actions-ecosystem-app-store http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13878444/google-home-devel...

jasonallen 10y ago

Amazon lost the phone and tablet wars, so they shifted their focus to the voice assistant market, and are now ahead of competitors with their Alexa skills SDK. It's great to see Google now step up too. I expect Microsoft and Apple follow suit. It's pretty easy to imagine how one could port simple 'voice command' apps between platforms ('hey, order a pizza/uber/etc...). Over time, however, these platforms should emerge into substantial AI. To be useful they will need to remember and understand more subtle contexts. "Hey, what's the score of the game" will have to remember that I like the Seahawks and Sounders, but only the Sounders are playing live right now, etc... I like Google's choice to include a "conversational" model to the application design. "Let me talk to <x>" is pretty natural and allows <x> to then have full control of the interaction. Alexa's "ask <x> to <command>" model makes it easier to fire off simple commands, but awkward for deeper ones.

maxerickson 10y ago
Google Now is about 95% of the way there on the sports thing (it is always showing me information about a couple of teams it knows I am interested in, including game status).
- Pfhreak 10y ago
  I'm finding the opposite -- it's always showing me information for teams I'm not interested in. I'm interested in games that are significant cultural events -- my city's team making the playoffs, the cubs winning the World Series, etc. Outside of those times, I have no interest. Yet despite ignoring stories, I get frequent updates about players, teams, and events I have zero interest in. Also, despite searching regularly for e-sports events, I see no updates on the teams in the LCS, or in Starcraft II's various tournaments. Or EVO. The sports events I do care about seem to have no support.
  - disillusioned 10y ago
    There's an option you can select in Google Now to specifically disregard these teams, either through the action menu on the card, or in the preferences section of the Google Now app. Merely ignoring or swiping away the cards doesn't change Google's estimation of your preference of the teams.

Ajedi32 10y ago

Pretty neat, but from a user's perspective I'm a little disappointed that the current implementation seems to require me to explicitly tell Google what app I want to interact with. I'd rather be able to just ask Google "Find me a movie ticket for Rogue One on Thursday" and have it be able to infer that I want to use the movie tickets app installed on my phone, than for me to have to explicitly say "Let me talk to Fandango" first. That said, it looks like deeper integrations are coming: > We'll continue to add more platform capabilities over time, including the ability to make your integrations available across the various Assistant surfaces like Pixel phones and Google Allo. We'll also enable support for purchases and bookings as well as deeper Assistant integrations across verticals.

IshKebab 10y ago
There are two actions - conversation actions (where you have to say "Tell Uber I want a cab") and direct actions ("get me a cab"). Somewhat understandably the direct actions are limited to certain domains that Google supports. It isn't a free for all.
- Ajedi32 10y ago
  Yeah, I guess considering that there's no installation process for actions that's kind of a necessity. Maybe as the technology matures Google will start getting smarter about being able to infer which provider I want to use for particular types of actions, but I recognise that's likely to be a rather difficult problem to solve.
hirsin 10y ago
The problem with protocol activation is that there are a million different endpoints and you either * Keep a list of every single one that apps can opt into. This is how you end up with "midsized_sedan_carwashing" in an enum list. It's a developer drain for Google/Microsoft/Amazon and creates "wait for the next release for 'largetruck_carwashing' so you can release your app". * Let apps run wild and claim any protocol (in this case, the word "movie ticket") they like. This is how you get malware claiming the .pdf or http:// http:// protocols. * Let certain special apps run wild. This is how you end up with "Buy Tickets With Fandango" advertised on the side of the box while Brown Paper Tickets or another startup is left in the cold/ "ask brown paper tickets for..." No solutions here, it's a hard space if you want to protect users but also enable developers equally. In the first two cases you also need to create confusing UI for the user to select which app they want for movies vs drycleaning.

nevi-me 10y ago

I was looking at the page earlier today, wondering when it's being launched. Great timing as my days at work are over for the rest of the year. I'm working on a public-transport chatbot in South Africa, planning on making it available on Twitter, Facebook, and Allo (though less users here). Going to be a fun December and January!

it_learnses 10y ago
good luck! do you have a progress blog or something?
- nevi-me 10y ago
  Our website is movinggauteng.co.za, I'll blog about progress on our blog over the weeks
iso-8859-1 10y ago
Why not add South Africa to https://github.com/schildbach/public-transport-enabler https://github.com/schildbach/public-transport-enabler ? That way, the eventual voice/chatbot support could support other networks too. I already made an IRC chatbot for this API: https://github.com/ysangkok/console-transit-trip-planner https://github.com/ysangkok/console-transit-trip-planner

sorenjan 10y ago

Why won't they release Assistant for all Android phones? Nobody uses Allo, and Pixel is a small minority of the market.

nevi-me 10y ago
I got excited too soon, seems very limited. I thought that they would at least start with Android seeing as that's where most users would be. Imagine as a developer spending 20 hours building Actions only for there to be no audience.
agildehaus 10y ago
> Pixel is a small minority of the market Exactly that. They're trying to promote Pixel phones by making Assistant an exclusive feature.
- sorenjan 10y ago
  Then why would you spend any time developing for Assistant?
komali2 10y ago
So what's the difference between google now, the google voice search thing at the top of my android galaxy s5, the pixel assistant, and the allo assistant? Because they are all different, to my eyes. They all have different commands they can do. It's just obscene.
- Shooti 10y ago
  There is/was no such thing as an assistant called "Google Now". That was an illusion/poor branding. There's "Voice Search", typing into the Google search box with your voice. VS Assistant, a Google's chatbot interface.

dominotw 10y ago

This is awesome. This was the biggest drawback of Alexa to build any meaningful apps. Its like they read my comment on HN from 3 days ago :D https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13073236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13073236

ausjke 10y ago
With LEX and Polly anyone can essentially build its own Alexa chatbot nowadays. Alexa will just be Amazon-version of it. I expect more apps and more devices will compete with Alexa as different products. Api.ai from Google can also be integrated into many popular apps(twitter,facebook messenger,etc), not sure if it's apps-agnostic, i.e. I write an Android app and can use google assistant directly, do I need any special API-key or something from Google first?

IshKebab 10y ago

Google says you don't need to enable skills or actions, you can just say "Tell <invocation trigger> XXX". Can anyone work out what happens if there are multiple actions registered with the same invocation name?

Ajedi32 10y ago
My guess is they simply won't allow that. Every action will require a unique name.

talawahdotnet 10y ago

This looks pretty cool. The api.ai interface looks much more approachable (and logical) than Alexa for someone who is just getting started. I played around with Alexa a little bit, but creating a bunch of json and text files to map utterances, intents, schemas, etc felt way too clunky and unintuitive. The api.ai UI for building interactions looks way more approachable and developer friendly. On top of that it looks like they are building out support for multiple platforms (Slack, FB, Alexa, Telegram) so you can (maybe) have a central integration point for your all your chat apps. Some of the integrations look very basic though. The biggest downsides are that I have never heard of these api.ai guys before and the pricing beyond their free tier (1 query/sec) requires you to contact them, yuck. Edit: Looks like I spoke too soon. Apparently they were acquired by Google recently[1]. I was wondering why Google was making this startup so central to their product. Now they just need to be more transparent on pricing, but I guess they are testing the waters right now. 1. https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/ https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/

pkates 10y ago

API.AI is really great but I really don't like this UX. From using and developing for the Amazon Echo for the last year or so this "Conversational" setup just sounds super unnatural. You want bus times: Amazon: "Alexa, ask [nextbus] [for the next bus]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [nextbus] <wait> when is the next bus?" Perfect: "[keyword], when is the next bus?" (context set in advance for the specific bus you care about) You want to control the lights: Amazon: "Alexa, turn off the [kitchen lights]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [the house] <wait> [turn off] the [kitchen lights]" Perfect: "[keyword], turn off the lights" (contextually turn off the lights immediately nearest the source of the voice. optionally "turn off the [named] light" You want to activate a scene: Amazon: "Alexa, [turn on|activate|start] [scene name]" Google: "Hey Google, let me talk to [the house] <wait> activate [scene name] Perfect: "[keyword], [time for a movie|it's bedtime|good morning]" I haven't seen or heard of a single "Conversational" app for the Echo that has real usage. I just don't think that's the killer app (at least until they get smarter). The current killer apps are being able to: - Set timers/alarms - Ask quick questions (measurements, weather, time) - Control home automation I just don't think the experience of talking back and forth to a bot is that enjoyable (again, yet, maybe in a Her future).

julianpye 10y ago
Spot on! At the core of the bot trend is the fact that users do not want to navigate through menus anymore. They are tired of searching for that one icon on screen after screen so they can enable a function. So they just want an interaction at the root that feels natural and gets them to the goal quickly.
vthallam 10y ago
I don't think that the newly released Actions always expect a conversation. In scenarios where it makes sense to just reply with an answer you can still do that. I am guessing you just have to use something like 'Hey Google, can you check when is the next bus to SFO on <app name>"
drampelt 10y ago
From the documentation, they also support Amazon Echo style actions such as "Tell Personal Chef to find me chicken recipes" or "Ask $name to $action_phrase". See https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-and-discovery https://developers.google.com/actions/distribute/invocation-...

ausjke 10y ago

Any info on the pricing? Amazon always has its pricing info along with any announcements. and yes I like this chatboot API from google, to compete with amazon lex/polly. Competition will bring out the best for developers.

igh 10y ago
It's free.
- ausjke 10y ago
  just registered and got an email saying, for pricing please email sales@api.ai, so I guess it is not free, and it needs not to be, just not enough straightforward info comparing to Amazon's announcements.
- deanCommie 10y ago
  It's not, though, is it: https://api.ai/pricing/ https://api.ai/pricing/
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
talawahdotnet 10y ago
Their basic unsupported tier (up to 1 query/sec on avg) is free. You have to contact them if you want pricing for a supported plan. This type of opaque pricing normally annoys me, but they were recently acquired by Google so I expect the pricing to eventually become more transparent and most likely be fairly reasonable. https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/ https://api.ai/blog/2016/09/19/api-ai-joining-google/

godmodus 10y ago

to be honest, considering Google's 0-fucks-given for its non-paying users, which is the majority, i hesitate to touch and build on any of its tech/APIs. someone correct me if i'm wrong, constructive criticism welcome.

bitmapbrother 10y ago
I've gotten great service from their Play store customer help. I can't recall a single bad experience I've had with them. They've not only solved my issues but exceeded my expectations with some of them. I'd say that qualifies as "giving a fuck" about their non paying customers.

mark_l_watson 10y ago

I was very impressed by the demos at the last Google IO, but decided to not go all-in on Google for privacy reasons. That said, their integrated platform is looking great. Some Google services I wouldn't want to live without: Play Music, Play Movies, Google Cloud Platform, and their neat One a Day charity platform. Otherwise, I am doing a 180 degree flip and getting all Apple gear after many years of mostly using Linux. I like the competition between Google/Apple/Microsoft/Amazon because even though I would like to more than four major players, four is enough to drive feature and price competition.

amelius 10y ago

Why isn't open-source catching up in this field?

Ambroos 10y ago
I'd guess because you need a lot of data and a LOT of work to get anywhere close to where literally all competition is already. Even Besides Apple, Amazon and Google no other company really has a decent voice assistant. Even Microsoft doesn't really manage to get up to the same level. Besides that, a voice assistant is never just a voice assistant. It's only useful if it already has a big range of services to integrate. Apple, Amazon and Google already had market-dominating services they could integrate to provide a decent starting point. You could see it in how each assistant evolved. Siri was always very much aimed at interacting with your phone. Messaging, playing music, local things. Things Apple already did well without a voice assistant. Alexa's main selling point at the start was it's integration with Amazon for shopping. It's still very important and probably the main reason I don't expect to get Alexa in Belgium any time soon since we don't even have an Amazon store. Google Now then couldn't really do much for you, but it's incredible at providing you with the right information, because it's powered by the world's biggest search engine (by quite a margin). Cortana for example doesn't really have any killer features, because Microsoft still doesn't have any market dominating services besides Windows (which doesn't really benefit from a voice assistant interface). So, in short, it's not about the voice assistant. It's about the ecosystem. And those are incredibly hard to build and probably impossible to open source.

javiercr 10y ago

Just tried to send the form to apply [1] but it seems to be broken. It says please complete all required fields despite that I completed all of them (double checked) 1. https://assistant.google.com/developer/eap/ https://assistant.google.com/developer/eap/

bradabrams 10y ago
I am sorry you had a problem with the form. I just doubled checked and it seems to work now. Can you please try again, and if not drop me a line http://twitter.com/brada http://twitter.com/brada

mikebay 10y ago

Would google focus on paying taxes worldwide action ? Sad, Google!