The world's biggest search engine offers recommendations and suggestions based on previous user searches. In 2012, Google introduced Knowledge Graph – an algorithm used to decipher the semantic content of a search query. Lyst is an ecommerce fashion site working with a new breed of model – the machine learning model. To match customer searches with relevant recommendations, Lyst uses meta-data tags to make visual comparisons between items of clothing.

It's home to Google Assistant, the new conversational assistant that Google plans to bring to many more of its consumer products. The first sign that Allo is a bit smarter than the standard messaging app is through a feature called Smart Replies. Even more impressive, Google has combined this feature with its photo recognition abilities, so the app is able to suggest responses to photos that are shared within your conversation. Things that Google can do "natively" like conversions, simple Google searches and translations will appear directly in your chat while other queries will surface links to Google results.

Google Allo is a smart messaging app that is based on users' phone numbers so they can basically use it to get in touch with anyone in their phonebook. 'When you chat in Incognito mode, messages have end-to-end encryption and additional privacy features like discreet notifications and message expiration' – AMIT FULAY, GOOGLE Or it may be able to suggest a Smart Reply based on what's going on in a photo, for example if it is a pet a Smart Reply could be "aww cute!" Not just an attack on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Google's Allo is also taking a shot at Snapchat in terms of photos, emojis and stickers. "When you chat in Incognito mode, messages have end-to-end encryption and additional privacy features like discreet notifications and message expiration," Amit Fulay, group product manager for Google Allo explained.

Two months after Google introduced Smart Reply, the company said it was already being used in 10 percent of all responses in the mobile Inbox app. Facebook, meanwhile, unveiled this month a neural network called DeepText, which it said "can understand with near-human accuracy the textual content of several thousands posts per second." Corrado urged me not to fear Smart Reply technology, however. In my sadness, I was willing to accept Smart Reply as an ally, not an enemy -- but not because it saved me from writing quick niceties.