Google rolled out Hindi language support to its virtual Assistant on Thursday. Starting today, all users of Android phones running on Marshmallow 6.0 version and above will be able to use Google Assistant in Hindi. The company has also announced that it will roll out Hindi language support to devices running on Android 5.0 Lollipop, iPhones and Android Go Edition based devices very soon.
To recall, Google Assistant is already available in Hindi on Google Allo instant messaging platform and Reliance Jio feature phones.
The virtual assistant is based on machine learning and is built on search, natural language understanding, computer vision, and also understanding user context to better understand the intent behind words.
“And it’ll get better over time — with your permission, it can learn your preferences, your likes and your dislikes — all done in a private, secure way that puts you in control,” Google said.
Google will also allow developers and businesses to build actions for the Hindi Google Assistant using the developer platform Actions on Google. Once an action is completed, developers can check the feature instantly by saying “OK Google, talk to…” using Google Assistant on their own devices.
To try out the Hindi Google Assistant feature, users need to update their language preference to Hindi and also update the Google Search app to the latest version. Google has also confirmed that it will bring support to 30 more languages by the end of this year on its virtual assistant.
Some examples of phrases in Hindi, that worked on the assistant include “Sabse kareeb Punjabi restaurant kahaan hain? Dadar tak pahunchne mein kitna samay lagega? Cricket ka score kya hain? Kal subah mujhe saat baje jagaao? Selfie kheencho. Daddy ko SMS bhejo “5 minutes mein pahunchenge.”
While talking about the new feature, Purvi Shah, Technical Program Manager, Google Assistant said “The Google Assistant is truly Indian, it’s your helpful dost that speaks our language and understands the things you care about, from finding biryani recipes to pulling up the latest cricket score or finding directions to the nearest ATM. In order to make it even more useful to Indians over time, developers and businesses can now build Actions for the Hindi Assistant through the developer platform Actions on Google. Once an action is built, you can just say “Ok Google, talk to” and access the service or content straight through your Google Assistant.”