Google invites third parties to make Assistant smarter

Google hopes making Google Assistant smarter will make its Google Home speaker more useful. Google Assistant is about to get a bit smarter, thanks to third-party developers. The Alphabet-owned company said Thursday it is opening up its digital assistant with new tools for developers who want to interact with customers through Google Home, its always-listening smart home speaker. The tools, called Conversation Actions, will allow developers to engage with users in conversational form to answer questions, provide assistance and eventually sell products and make bookings. Powered by artificial intelligence, the idea is for Google Assistant to learn about you and your behavior so it can provide answers catering specifically to you.