Google adds generative AI to voice assistant
Anderson Piza
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is adding generative AI to its voice assistant, the company announced at its Made by Google event on Wednesday. 
Assistant with Bard combines the AIâs generative and reasoning capabilities with Assistantâs personalized help to be used with services including Gmail and Docs. Users can interact with it through text, voice or images, and the program can even help take action. 
It will be available on Android and iOS mobile devices in short order.
Generative AI is being incorporated across brands and products, with Microsoft (MSFT) on Tuesday announcing that OpenAIâs art generator is now available in Bing, the companyâs search engine and chat service. 
As an example, Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) can show important emails that might have been missed alongside information and follow-up questions regarding a birthday party.
On Android devices, the program can help you post to social media. 
Google's hardware chief, Rick Osterloh, said the Pixel 8 Pro smartphone is the first phone to "run Google's foundation models directly on the device." 
âFloat the Assistant with Bard overlay on top of your photo and ask it to write a social post for you. Assistant with Bard will use the image as a visual cue, understand the context and help with what you need,â the tech giant said in a blog post, calling it a new way to interact with our phones. 
Privacy settings are adjustable. Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) said Assistant with Bard is still an early experiment, and it is first being rolled out to early testers for feedback. 
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) also introduced an update to its Pixel Buds Pro earbuds, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones and version 2 of its Pixel Watch. The Pixel 8 phone will sell starting at $699, while the Pixel 8 Pro starts at $999, a price that includes the Pixel Watch 2.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) is up 51% year-to-date.

More on Alphabet

Google: Don't Worry About Antitrust
Google Stock: How Might AI Impact Its Business
Google: Tempering Our Enthusiasm
Google launches Pixel 8 phones at $699 and $999, second version of Pixel Watch
Google-backed Anthropic to raise $2 billion in latest funding