Google "Conversational Search" Natural Speech Interface Now Available In Chrome Browser
Google’s original search engine is very old in terms of tech time, although of course the company has continuously upgraded and tweaked it over the years, improving this algorithm or adding that feature. It’s fitting, then, that Google would roll out a voice search feature that uses conversational dialogue to help you search for and find answers.
According to SearchEngineLand’s Danny Sullivan, the new voice search feature, demoed at Google I/O, is now live on the Chrome web browser, and it appears to work much better than so many promising but ultimately middling voice-related technologies of the past.
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
Sullivan demonstrates how a voice search is initiated and what the results look like. Essentially, you click the microphone button on the main search page in Chrome and speak your search; your words appear on the screen, and then the results pop up. In his search “how old is Barack Obama”, the results were delivered in a “card” with text, but the AI voice also spoke the result he was looking for: “Barack Obama is 51 years old.”
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
You can take that answer and keep asking related questions, and Google will return related results; to put it in practical terms, Google knew who Sullivan was talking about when he asked follow-up questions using pronouns instead of the President’s actual name.
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
The new search feature can also pull up your calendar when you ask a broad, open-ended question such as “what’s happening today?” or offer local listings for “places to eat in [a nearby town]”, and so on.
Google hasn’t officially announced that the new feature is live yet, nor has it given the functionality a proper name, but the company confirmed to SearchEngineLand in a statement that “conversational search has started rolling out in the latest version of Chrome”.
According to SearchEngineLand’s Danny Sullivan, the new voice search feature, demoed at Google I/O, is now live on the Chrome web browser, and it appears to work much better than so many promising but ultimately middling voice-related technologies of the past.
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
Sullivan demonstrates how a voice search is initiated and what the results look like. Essentially, you click the microphone button on the main search page in Chrome and speak your search; your words appear on the screen, and then the results pop up. In his search “how old is Barack Obama”, the results were delivered in a “card” with text, but the AI voice also spoke the result he was looking for: “Barack Obama is 51 years old.”
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
You can take that answer and keep asking related questions, and Google will return related results; to put it in practical terms, Google knew who Sullivan was talking about when he asked follow-up questions using pronouns instead of the President’s actual name.
Image credit: SearchEngineLand
The new search feature can also pull up your calendar when you ask a broad, open-ended question such as “what’s happening today?” or offer local listings for “places to eat in [a nearby town]”, and so on.
Google hasn’t officially announced that the new feature is live yet, nor has it given the functionality a proper name, but the company confirmed to SearchEngineLand in a statement that “conversational search has started rolling out in the latest version of Chrome”.
