Google has joined the war to be your digital butler. Speaking to a packed amphitheater of developers here, Alphabet's flagship company on Wednesday unveiled a hot-rodded personal assistant it says will let people control their homes, book movies, search the internet, ask follow up questions about an Italian restaurant, and sort through dog pictures using voice commands. The salvo places Google in the middle of a contest among technology giants to build an artificial intelligence that hold consumers' hands as they navigate the real world. Perhaps with an eye towards modern politics, Google declined to give its personal aide a gendered name. Its main physical form is a small, white, buttonless speaker called Google Home. It looks similar to Amazon's Echo, its own smart speaker powered by Alexa.

Google has announced a conversation-based tool to control smartphones, smartwatches and other devices. Google Assistant can be used to find information, play media and carry out tasks - such as booking cinema tickets - via a back-and-forth chat between the user and the software. The firm also announced a voice-activated device with a built-in speaker called Google Home to provide the tech in living rooms. Amazon launched its own dialogue-based smart home device in 2014, and has since included the Alexa voice assistant that powers it in some of its other products. Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai credited Amazon with having pioneered the idea.

Google would like to remind you that you can talk with it. Today Google is announcing a "Google Assistant" that essentially performs the same tasks as other Google interfaces do, but in a conversational mode. It doesn't have a name, it just has the power of Google and its deep mine of data behind it. In the past few years, we've seen every other big tech company launch a personal assistant: Apple's Siri. Facebook's M. All are already iconic assistants with distinct personalities -- or at least with the distinct sense that they have personalities. That's mainly because each has a name and a personified intelligence that you imagine you relate to.

"OK Google, let's get to know each other a little better." Google said it is ramping up the capabilities of its digital assistant, which has been known as "OK Google" or Google Now. "We truly want to take the next step in being more assistive for our users," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on stage Wednesday at the company's annual I/O developer conference. So far, this digital assistant has worked as a voice-controlled version of Google's core search services, allowing people using Android smartphones or some Google app to ask specific questions, look up directions or check the weather. The company now wants to make its digital assistant capable of more natural two-way conversation, which could make the tool far more valuable for users and help Google create deeper connections to its audience.

Google is turning to artificial intelligence to make sure people keep using its search engine, even if they're not spending as much time on the Web and personal computers. The Alphabet Inc. division unveiled a new mobile messaging application Wednesday called Allo containing a digital personal assistant, based on AI technology that powers other Google services like Inbox. At its I/O developer conference near its Silicon Valley headquarters, the company also showed off a voice-based search device called Google Home that uses the same assistant technology to answer questions when people are in their houses, a potentially potent rival to Amazon.com Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the goal is to develop an "on-going two-way dialog with Google" and build billions of people their own "individual Google." The CEO sees the Google digital assistant as an "ambient experience that extends across devices."

Google Home, a small speaker you can converse with using natural language, is an ambitious way to weave the company's search engine and artificial intelligence into every fabric of your daily life. The company announced the new product today onstage at its I/O developers conference, and it will be available later this fall. More than anything, Home represents Google's answer to Amazon's competing voice assistant Alexa and the myriad number of devices and services Alexa runs on and connects to. In a video released today, Google laid out how it imagines people will communicate with its software to do everything from play music in the morning and check the weather to changing dinner reservations and sending texts.

People wave while waiting to take their seats to hear the keynote address of the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif. FOSTER CITY, Calif.--Computers as we know them are about to disappear. Well, okay, they won't completely disappear, but they will take on a new form that makes them very difficult to distinguish from everyday objects all around us. This transformation is part of a bigger, longer term trend that some have dubbed "ambient" computing. The idea is that computing capability will end up being embedded in devices ranging from speakers to automobiles, and will provide capabilities and services to us throughout the day via the environment around us. "The difference between receiving useful information or performing specific actions automatically, as opposed to instigating the efforts on our own, is profound" The most obvious example of ambient computing to date is Amazon's Echo line of products. Echo and Tap integrate the company's Alexa digital assistant into what appears to be a Bluetooth speaker.

A crowd gathers ahead of the Google I/O conference at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif. It's been a big 12 months for Google. On Wednesday, the tech giant kicks off its I/O developers conference with a keynote address expected to cover plans for its Android mobile operating system, and possibly other ventures including Android Auto. Burke says Android is the most popular operating system in the world. More than 600 Android phones launched last year.

This guide has been updated with new integrations, including Honeywell Total Connect Comfort thermostats, the GreenIQ Smart Garden Hub, and Kayak. The Amazon Echo has quietly become the hottest smart home product on the market. Suddenly, every tech company wants to integrate its products with Amazon's customizable virtual assistant, Alexa. The integrations keep coming, at such a pace that it can be hard to know exactly which products work with Alexa. Amazon's website tries to keep on top of things, but its interface can be tough to navigate.

Google Home will take on Amazon Echo when the voice-activated device launches later this year. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google officially entered the voice-activated digital assistant race Wednesday with Google Home. The small device will compete directly with Amazon's popular Echo and should be available to consumers later this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced at the search company's annual developers conference. The move had been anticipated, as Google looks to put its mark on a coming age of artificial intelligence in which machines learn to interpret and answer human queries by leveraging the speed and scope of cloud competing. The device will be able to play music, complete a range of tasks and answer questions that one would ask of Google search.