Actions on Google Graphic (Photo : Facebook)
Google Assistant is the search giant's latest digital assistant that is used on the Google Home speaker and Pixel phones, and now it is getting little bots for user interaction. The new and limited personal assistant taking on Microsoft's Cortana and Apple's Siri opened Actions on Google to allow third-party developers to test new features and future expansions. Google's partners for new Conversation Actions already include CNN, WebMD, and Domino's Pizza.
Google Assistant is still not fully open to third-party developers. The company only shared that will happen sometime in early 2017.
Google has provided two samples including the voice actions named Number Genie and Eliza. Developers can review the paradigms before building their own.
Google explained in October how actions for its smart speaker would work. If users order an Uber for example, they would talk with a third-party bot after mentioning a keyword, then make it clear they want n Uber XL, according to The Verge.
Unlike Amazon's Alexa there is no requirement to install Skills and the actions are available by their names. Google Home users just have to say something such as "Google, talk to Eliza."
The process will be much different from Skills. Google will not create an "Action Store" but instead will organize the actions like an app store.
The two kinds of possible actions include direct and conversational. Developers will only have the ability to work on conversational actions.
Third-party developers have a few options to create the voice services. They include using Gupshup or API.AI. They can also do language processing from users' transcribed commands.
Google has provided some resources to get developers started including a YouTube playlist that introduces the designing and building of voice interfaces, according to Android Police. Other resources include sample code, tips, a newsletter, and Google+ community.
The custom voice actions are only available for the digital assistant's version on Google Home but will expand to Pixel smartphones and Allo messaging app in the future.
The Alphabet company has also announced it plans to add support for payment-related activities such as purchases and bookings. Developers can get an early start working on these features by applying for the Actions on Google program.
Here's the Actions on Google video:
