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The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assi

by dilap 9y ago

The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assistant in a sardonic or sarcastic manner. (Also, "OK" is a very unnatural prefix! Notice how you accidentally replaced it with "hey". I watched a 7 year repeatedly do this a couple of days ago with Google Home, concluding it was broken. Compare w/ Alexa, which kids pick up on instantly.) Edit: OK, not accidental, apparently "hey" is supposed to work too. Not sure why it wasn't working at my in-laws house! I think "hey" is a better prefix word than "OK" (though still not nearly as nice as no prefix [try always addressing your friends by putting "hey" in front of their name and see how it goes]), so I reduce my criticism by half. :-)

jmgao 9y ago
AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.
- dilap 9y ago
  Interesting, someone else said that too. It definitely wasn't working for us though... Maybe something to do w/ whether or not it was trained to our voices?
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    In principle, training to your voice should only be necessary to get access to personal content and settings, but it probably also improves wakeword recognition (and the training trains with both wakewords.)
- dawnerd 9y ago
  It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.
  - ijidak 9y ago
    This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to yell towards the specific target device and hope the others ones don't hear.) Something so simple will deeply personalize the experience for many users.
    - xyzzyz 9y ago
      Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode. I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.
      - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
        Personalisation would not give advertising of the company to any guests who witness you using the device ... that's my idea of the primary reason.
      - ehsankia 9y ago
        Yep, most people don't realize that: 1. Hotword detection runs on a minimal low powered local subsystem 2. The two provided hotwords run networks that have been trained on millions of samples in thousands of different environments. That thing is very heavily optimized. Alexa and Bixbi get far more false positives and false negatives.
        ijidak 9y ago
        Never thought about that, but makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation!!
- icc97 9y ago
  But that's still pretty terrible, they now have to support both 'OK Google' and 'Hey Google' and 'XXX Google' for all other countries.
mertd 9y ago
It's not accidental. That's the activation phrase.
fermienrico 9y ago
I disagree. Ok Google comes extremely naturally to most people I know. I prefer Google’s personification of an assistant - it’s the brand itself. Not some Alexa or Siri or some gender specific role. Google has taken an absolute brilliant approach towards voice and their popularity shows. It’s a pleasure to use compared to anything else.
- enraged_camel 9y ago
  >>Ok Google comes extremely naturally to most people I know. And it sounds incredibly stupid to anyone else within earshot. I can’t get over how dumb my roommate sounds whenever he uses the thing. My immediate thought when I hear him say “OK Google” is that Google must have told him something and he is responding with “OK” to acknowledge. You know, the way people actually communicate. I get that it becomes natural after a while but so what? Why start with such an unnatural way to activate it in the first place? Why not “Hey Google”? (I know it is supported in google home)
  - fiatpandas 9y ago
    Not sure what English speaking country, or even US region, you come from but “OK [name], [call to action, often one involving both speaker and listener]” is a thing. And it doesn’t have to be a response to something said previously. Remember, people can do whatever they want with their language, and it becomes a thing even if you personally aren’t familiar with it.
    - enraged_camel 9y ago
      Exactly, when used that way it involves both the speaker and the listener, as in “OK Bob, let’s go to the park”. Or, if it is used to pretend a command, it is used as a continuation of an existing conversation, like when you are at the doctor and he or she says “Go ahead and get on the scale” and then “OK, now sit here and open your mouth.” The way google uses it is definitely not natural. There is also the pause, after you say “Ok google” and it activates search for you. Anyway, fanboys will continue to downvote I know but the whole interaction is undoubtedly awkward as fuck.
stewbrew 9y ago
There are quite a few people out there who don't speak English. Okay is a common word in many languages since WWII I guess. In many languages there isn't a aspirated H.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> try always addressing your friends by putting "hey" in front of their name and see how it goes My friends are better at contextually disregarding comments and don't send any utterance that seems to invoke them to a remote server, so don't need a form of address designed to avoid false positives.

by dilap 9y ago

jmgao 9y ago

AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.

dilap 9y ago
Interesting, someone else said that too. It definitely wasn't working for us though... Maybe something to do w/ whether or not it was trained to our voices?
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  In principle, training to your voice should only be necessary to get access to personal content and settings, but it probably also improves wakeword recognition (and the training trains with both wakewords.)
dawnerd 9y ago
It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.
- ijidak 9y ago
  This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to yell towards the specific target device and hope the others ones don't hear.) Something so simple will deeply personalize the experience for many users.
  - xyzzyz 9y ago
    Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode. I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.
    - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
      Personalisation would not give advertising of the company to any guests who witness you using the device ... that's my idea of the primary reason.
    - ehsankia 9y ago
      Yep, most people don't realize that: 1. Hotword detection runs on a minimal low powered local subsystem 2. The two provided hotwords run networks that have been trained on millions of samples in thousands of different environments. That thing is very heavily optimized. Alexa and Bixbi get far more false positives and false negatives.
      - ijidak 9y ago
        Never thought about that, but makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation!!
icc97 9y ago
But that's still pretty terrible, they now have to support both 'OK Google' and 'Hey Google' and 'XXX Google' for all other countries.

mertd 9y ago

It's not accidental. That's the activation phrase.

fermienrico 9y ago

I disagree. Ok Google comes extremely naturally to most people I know. I prefer Google’s personification of an assistant - it’s the brand itself. Not some Alexa or Siri or some gender specific role. Google has taken an absolute brilliant approach towards voice and their popularity shows. It’s a pleasure to use compared to anything else.

enraged_camel 9y ago
>>Ok Google comes extremely naturally to most people I know. And it sounds incredibly stupid to anyone else within earshot. I can’t get over how dumb my roommate sounds whenever he uses the thing. My immediate thought when I hear him say “OK Google” is that Google must have told him something and he is responding with “OK” to acknowledge. You know, the way people actually communicate. I get that it becomes natural after a while but so what? Why start with such an unnatural way to activate it in the first place? Why not “Hey Google”? (I know it is supported in google home)
- fiatpandas 9y ago
  Not sure what English speaking country, or even US region, you come from but “OK [name], [call to action, often one involving both speaker and listener]” is a thing. And it doesn’t have to be a response to something said previously. Remember, people can do whatever they want with their language, and it becomes a thing even if you personally aren’t familiar with it.
  - enraged_camel 9y ago
    Exactly, when used that way it involves both the speaker and the listener, as in “OK Bob, let’s go to the park”. Or, if it is used to pretend a command, it is used as a continuation of an existing conversation, like when you are at the doctor and he or she says “Go ahead and get on the scale” and then “OK, now sit here and open your mouth.” The way google uses it is definitely not natural. There is also the pause, after you say “Ok google” and it activates search for you. Anyway, fanboys will continue to downvote I know but the whole interaction is undoubtedly awkward as fuck.

stewbrew 9y ago

There are quite a few people out there who don't speak English. Okay is a common word in many languages since WWII I guess. In many languages there isn't a aspirated H.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> try always addressing your friends by putting "hey" in front of their name and see how it goes My friends are better at contextually disregarding comments and don't send any utterance that seems to invoke them to a remote server, so don't need a form of address designed to avoid false positives.