Google I/O 2018 Marks a New Era for IoT Devices - DZone IoT

If Google I/O 2017 was all about Google's restructuring effort and the resonance of artificial intelligence brewing in Google Labs, I/O 2018 was more about humanizing those AI efforts by integrating them into its line of products, particularly Google Assistant, which powers Google Home and is an integral part of a bunch of other Google and non-Google devices. Google Assistant itself was the successor to Google Now. It enabled Android users, for the first time, to engage in a two-way conversation with their Android devices, something iOS users were already enjoying with Siri. During I/O 2016 while introducing Google Assistant, CEO Sundar Pichai called it, "The future of computing as an ambient experience that extends beyond devices." Two of the very big Google launches at the event -- Google Allo, a messaging app with a resident chatbot, and Google Home, a smart speaker to rival Amazon Echo powered by Alexa -- were both powered by Google Assistant, an outcome of Google's continual efforts in natural language processing, deep learning, and text-to-speech over the years.