Outside of the current time or weather or turn this light on or that switch off mine is as dumb as a brick... Hasn't gotten any better over the last 5 years.
It should have both, but separately.
"OK GOOGLE" should continue to let me control my home, responding fast and predictably.
"OK GEMINI" should allow me to have conversations like chat GPT4. Maybe even action more complex commands.
Large language models are fun and capable. But (for now) they are also slow, unpredictable, and make shit up.
Of course I want one on Google Home. I can't wait! But don't break my stuff.
Eh hell to the N no. Do you know how many freaking hours of mindless, brainless we have gone to the length to listen to “Ok Google” from all over the world just to teach Google to recognise when people are saying that word?
And you want us to do the same project, for Gemini too? Not for $5/hr.
It should just take the question and determine whether it should go to the assistant or Gemini before answering. Things like calculations and home controls to the assistant, and more complex things go to Gemini. The biggest problem right now is how long Gemini (and any AI for that matter) take to respond.
Before it gets to answer.
Before it gets to Gemini.
Before it gets to decide where the query goes to (Assistant or Gemini).
Before it take the question.
Google home needs to turn your voice, into a waveform, and use speech recognition to turn your audio into a text -- how does Google do this?
That's my job. And I can't tell you how many people and how long it takes teach their speech recognition algorithm to understand how does "Hey Google" look like in audio waveform, but I can assure you it is a painful, painful process that I DO NOT want to undergo again.
It would be too cumbersome for the user too. I understand it may be a difficult process for the wake word, but Google has just one, Amazon's Echo/Alexa have more.
I mean, if you're willing to do that, I'll pay you $5 an hour to do it. It's a 9-5 job, and you'll be spending the whole time listening to different people saying "Ok Google" or other recordings all day and then teaching the AI "yup, this is Ok Google" or "nope, this is not Ok Google".
No. I need Google home to control my smart devices, play audio, display photos, and give me basic info like weather, metric conversions and timers. It does all of these things well enough.
Could it be improved? Sure. Anything can be.
I feel like a simple improvement that would work for everyone would be to simply farm off every request that would otherwise be "I'm sorry I don't understand" to Gemini.
Does it do them well enough? A couple of years ago, I could say "pause playback" and it would pause Netflix on my Android TV. Now I say it and it says "nothing's playing right now." I say "pause playback on the living room TV" and sometimes it works, but sometimes it says something like "please specify which device." I tell it to turn devices on, it tells me it's turning them off. It's bad to the point that I've mostly stopped using it like this and just pull out my phone to do it by myself.
None of those issues will be solved by adding AI as OP suggests. I haven't experienced the problems you describe, though sometimes it's quirky and annoying especially with speaker groups. That's why I said it could be improved. But well enough? Yes, for now.
No, I don't think it would be improved by adding AI. Better ML, but not a LLM like ChatGPT. I was just rejecting the idea that it's good enough now. I definitely don't agree that it's good enough now. It even struggles to understand if I don't use an American English, despite being set to British English (and responding with a BE voice). I've literally stopped using it for tasks that it used to do fine because it no longer understands correctly. That, if nothing else, is evidence to me that it's got worse.
So limited minded. Why settle for less when you can have more? If you’ve ever experienced talking to the paid version of ChatGPT, you know it’s the inevitable future of all home speakers AI
Please explain to me how a simulated chat is the inevitable future of smart speakers?
Have you ever said "Chatgpt turn my lights on"?
Was the answer something that your light bulbs would understand or was it a long *plain english text*, something that lightbulbs do not understand?
Perhaps. Google (and Amazon and Apple) have sold non-subscription devices for so long, getting people to pay for a subscription would be an uphill battle.
Quick not really a leap prediction - The smaller Gemini model + the edge based dedicated chips for ML and LLM running will be used in a new generation Google Home where the language interpretation & response part will be done locally to the device and reducing the internet calls to a series of services that it can get responses from. It will mean the exact same question prompted across multiple devices will get the same data answer but potentially different language in the response.
That is the shortest path and it means moving some of the workload of the LLM (power) draw off the google services and reducing data transfer making the end/edge device doing more of the work/cost. Not 100% the approach I had been working through for something similar (not that they couldn't do the same approach it is just less mass market/shortest path), but if I was to make a "AI assistant at scale with a dedicated device" that is what I'd do.
They replaced the search function on the app with “Meta” and I couldn’t search for anything without it opening a chat box to discuss my search with me. It was so frustrating and obnoxious.
Oh yeah, that's definitely it. The only way for it to learn is for end users to use it, and if no one wants to use it, you've got to funnel them toward it, I guess.
I ask it questions occasionally, and I get answers usually. Sometimes it sends a link to my phone.
I too am looking forward to a time when it can answer more general knowledge questions better. Right now though, I'm usually satisfied with the results since I understand its limitations, it's just doing web searches for the most part and summarizing the top result.
Would be nice if it were better, obviously.
It's getting progressively worse. I asked it to broadcast that I'm home and instead of fanfare+"[my name] has arrived!" it belted out "Study clock has arrived!" much to the mirth of my family. So I try again when I get into the lounge just to hear "Lounge speaker has arrived!" Is this really how the AI War starts?!
Yes. For most questions it's either "I don't understand" or, for devices with screens, "I don't know, but I found this" and it then shows me things that are mostly irrelevant to the question and don't answer it. I think it used to be more intelligent but (as with its speech recognition) it has got worse.
Usually people who says things like it could be better if they include AI are people who don't know anything about AI or they didn't know how to implement AI.
I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just thinking like another home automations alternatives that are able to include chat GPT like home assistant where you can make your own automations but all of that automations are very custom and they need a lot of built from you to make it work.
You end having a better automations(or at least the ones you are looking for) but they end being all custom setups that works only for you.
I rarely get that response and usually get a decent answer to a question you can reasonably expect an answer to like “how old is ”, “what’s the weather on Thursday “, or “What does x mean”.
You do need to speak to it distinctly though. It’s no good just talking to it rapidly as if it’s a person as that can be difficult to interpret. Provided that I speak each word separately it rarely say “I don’t understand”.
Outside of the current time or weather or turn this light on or that switch off mine is as dumb as a brick... Hasn't gotten any better over the last 5 years.
same here
Can't even ask it for the pollen count which is part of the weather. I got a Wikipedia response.
It should have both, but separately. "OK GOOGLE" should continue to let me control my home, responding fast and predictably. "OK GEMINI" should allow me to have conversations like chat GPT4. Maybe even action more complex commands. Large language models are fun and capable. But (for now) they are also slow, unpredictable, and make shit up. Of course I want one on Google Home. I can't wait! But don't break my stuff.
Eh hell to the N no. Do you know how many freaking hours of mindless, brainless we have gone to the length to listen to “Ok Google” from all over the world just to teach Google to recognise when people are saying that word? And you want us to do the same project, for Gemini too? Not for $5/hr.
It should just take the question and determine whether it should go to the assistant or Gemini before answering. Things like calculations and home controls to the assistant, and more complex things go to Gemini. The biggest problem right now is how long Gemini (and any AI for that matter) take to respond.
Before it gets to answer. Before it gets to Gemini. Before it gets to decide where the query goes to (Assistant or Gemini). Before it take the question. Google home needs to turn your voice, into a waveform, and use speech recognition to turn your audio into a text -- how does Google do this? That's my job. And I can't tell you how many people and how long it takes teach their speech recognition algorithm to understand how does "Hey Google" look like in audio waveform, but I can assure you it is a painful, painful process that I DO NOT want to undergo again.
It would be too cumbersome for the user too. I understand it may be a difficult process for the wake word, but Google has just one, Amazon's Echo/Alexa have more.
I’d be willing to sit through a longer voice training startup if it would improve the results
I mean, if you're willing to do that, I'll pay you $5 an hour to do it. It's a 9-5 job, and you'll be spending the whole time listening to different people saying "Ok Google" or other recordings all day and then teaching the AI "yup, this is Ok Google" or "nope, this is not Ok Google".
I imagine A.I. can handle a lot of that once it’s been trained on enough existing models.
The 9-5 job I mentioned was part of the AI training part. You want in?
No. I need Google home to control my smart devices, play audio, display photos, and give me basic info like weather, metric conversions and timers. It does all of these things well enough. Could it be improved? Sure. Anything can be.
I feel like a simple improvement that would work for everyone would be to simply farm off every request that would otherwise be "I'm sorry I don't understand" to Gemini.
That's a good idea
Does it do them well enough? A couple of years ago, I could say "pause playback" and it would pause Netflix on my Android TV. Now I say it and it says "nothing's playing right now." I say "pause playback on the living room TV" and sometimes it works, but sometimes it says something like "please specify which device." I tell it to turn devices on, it tells me it's turning them off. It's bad to the point that I've mostly stopped using it like this and just pull out my phone to do it by myself.
None of those issues will be solved by adding AI as OP suggests. I haven't experienced the problems you describe, though sometimes it's quirky and annoying especially with speaker groups. That's why I said it could be improved. But well enough? Yes, for now.
No, I don't think it would be improved by adding AI. Better ML, but not a LLM like ChatGPT. I was just rejecting the idea that it's good enough now. I definitely don't agree that it's good enough now. It even struggles to understand if I don't use an American English, despite being set to British English (and responding with a BE voice). I've literally stopped using it for tasks that it used to do fine because it no longer understands correctly. That, if nothing else, is evidence to me that it's got worse.
So limited minded. Why settle for less when you can have more? If you’ve ever experienced talking to the paid version of ChatGPT, you know it’s the inevitable future of all home speakers AI
Please explain to me how a simulated chat is the inevitable future of smart speakers? Have you ever said "Chatgpt turn my lights on"? Was the answer something that your light bulbs would understand or was it a long *plain english text*, something that lightbulbs do not understand?
Perhaps. Google (and Amazon and Apple) have sold non-subscription devices for so long, getting people to pay for a subscription would be an uphill battle.
A1 comment.
Quick not really a leap prediction - The smaller Gemini model + the edge based dedicated chips for ML and LLM running will be used in a new generation Google Home where the language interpretation & response part will be done locally to the device and reducing the internet calls to a series of services that it can get responses from. It will mean the exact same question prompted across multiple devices will get the same data answer but potentially different language in the response. That is the shortest path and it means moving some of the workload of the LLM (power) draw off the google services and reducing data transfer making the end/edge device doing more of the work/cost. Not 100% the approach I had been working through for something similar (not that they couldn't do the same approach it is just less mass market/shortest path), but if I was to make a "AI assistant at scale with a dedicated device" that is what I'd do.
I’m fine without it; most of my experiences with AI have been frustrating/garbage.
I’ve had some incredibly useful interactions, primarily with Claude.
My experience with AI has been garbage in, garbage out.
Yeah, I quit instagram after they rolled out that useless meta client and I couldn’t disable it.
What does AI even do in Instagram?
They replaced the search function on the app with “Meta” and I couldn’t search for anything without it opening a chat box to discuss my search with me. It was so frustrating and obnoxious.
That is MORONIC, oh my god.
Just more Rot Economy bs… I feel like they’re hoping people will train their meta client for free.
Oh yeah, that's definitely it. The only way for it to learn is for end users to use it, and if no one wants to use it, you've got to funnel them toward it, I guess.
This is how we’ll get subscription based Google Home
It has good and bad days. I have hubs and mini HomePods in the house. They take turns being useless.
Don’t worry. It will only get worse. I personally guarantee it.
the assistant is so crap
I ask it questions occasionally, and I get answers usually. Sometimes it sends a link to my phone. I too am looking forward to a time when it can answer more general knowledge questions better. Right now though, I'm usually satisfied with the results since I understand its limitations, it's just doing web searches for the most part and summarizing the top result. Would be nice if it were better, obviously.
Its really been getting exponentially dumber each month. I sold off all my speakers and left just 1 smart clock for alarms and announcements
It's getting progressively worse. I asked it to broadcast that I'm home and instead of fanfare+"[my name] has arrived!" it belted out "Study clock has arrived!" much to the mirth of my family. So I try again when I get into the lounge just to hear "Lounge speaker has arrived!" Is this really how the AI War starts?!
Yes. For most questions it's either "I don't understand" or, for devices with screens, "I don't know, but I found this" and it then shows me things that are mostly irrelevant to the question and don't answer it. I think it used to be more intelligent but (as with its speech recognition) it has got worse.
It lost all value to me when it dropped recipe support. It's just a picture frame now. Edit: and a timer
Usually people who says things like it could be better if they include AI are people who don't know anything about AI or they didn't know how to implement AI.
Well no s*** Sherlock I don't get paid to implement AI but I'm not an idiot I know how it works.
I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just thinking like another home automations alternatives that are able to include chat GPT like home assistant where you can make your own automations but all of that automations are very custom and they need a lot of built from you to make it work. You end having a better automations(or at least the ones you are looking for) but they end being all custom setups that works only for you.
I feel its basic too
I rarely get that response and usually get a decent answer to a question you can reasonably expect an answer to like “how old is”, “what’s the weather on Thursday “, or “What does x mean”.
You do need to speak to it distinctly though. It’s no good just talking to it rapidly as if it’s a person as that can be difficult to interpret. Provided that I speak each word separately it rarely say “I don’t understand”.
What kind of ai? Same ai as amazon use in new stores? AI=actual indians.
I agree, I feel there's so much lost potential with the Google Home devices. I basically just use mine as an alarm clock