And it's got some premium partners on board
Google is improving the way its Google Home speaker will tell you the news, using AI to help choose stories for you.
While Amazon Alexa has let you curate your own flash briefing – including BBC newsflashes Google has been strangely behind given its penchant for headlines. But now the company collaborated with The Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times and The Washington Post – among other services to offer up on-demand, up-to-the-minute news.
Google has released a YouTube video to show its vision – which isn’t exactly mind-blowing, despite the deep AI tech running behind the scenes. When you ask Google for the news, you get an audio snippet from one of the partners, which is immensely more listenable that having them barked out by the Assistant itself.
“It starts with a briefing of top stories and updates on topics you care about, and extends into longer-form content that dives deeper into more stories,” said a Google spokesperson.
“At any point in your day when you want to listen to the latest news—as a morning wake-up, during your commute, or while jogging—the Google Assistant will be ready with new stories and updates to the ones you’ve already heard.”
Apparently you’ll be able to skip news stories – but it’s really the immediacy of these stories that will make the difference. Alexa’s headlines can often feel like yesterday’s news, so getting a really immediate, curated service could be a big plus for the platform.