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Google Says Assistant Will Be On a Billion Devices By the End of the Month, Up From Around 400 Million Devices Last Year (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the aggressive-expansion dept.

Days after Amazon revealed that 100 million Alexa-enabled devices have been sold, Google said today that it expects the billionth device with its AI Assistant to be sold later this month. From a report: Ahead of CES this morning, Google dropped a little stat update: Google expects Assistant to be on 1 billion devices total by the end of this month. That's up from around 400M devices this time a year ago. Google first announced Assistant back in May of 2016. By October of that year, they'd rolled it out to the Pixel/Pixel XL; nowadays, it's on TVs, smart speakers, tablets, smart watches, and just about every new Android phone that hits the market.

13 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Stats I'd like to see..... by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. How many people USE assistant?
    2. How mnay people know they have it installed?

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    1. Re:Stats I'd like to see..... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It's useful in the car. If you decide to change destination, or need to make a detour, or want to see nearby chargers, you can just ask it. Sometimes it offers you alternative routes and you can just say yes or no.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Stats I'd like to see..... by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      3. How many people would just like reliable voice dialing, rather than "Hope the fucker understands my accent this time and doesn't consider my question vague enough for it to prompt with a new question that for some reason it'll not listen for an answer to"?

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Fine. Now how do I remote it? by dargaud · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This fucker keeps opening on my phone. I've followed several tutorials on how to remove or disable it, but none work. I DO NOT WANT TO TALK TO MY PHONE. Is that not clear enough ?

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
    1. Re:Fine. Now how do I remote it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You can't remove it, as Google will not let you. Same happened on my Nexus devices, some forced update pushed that crap into my devices, even though they are unsupported from security patches point of view by Google.
      Somehow they do have man power to port these spyware softwares to every Android OS version ever shipped, but their OS security updates end after two year of device launch.

    2. Re:Fine. Now how do I remote it? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Open the Google app. Click on "more". Open Settings. Click on Settings (again). Assistant tab. Scroll down and you will see your phone. Click that, then there is a master toggle to enable/disable Google Assistant on that device.

      Ignore the "beware of the leopard" sign.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Fine. Now how do I remote it? by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Swipe down from the top.
      Settings
      Applications (or Apps & Notifications)
      Default Apps (or Advanced -> Default Apps)
      (might have to select Assist & voice input)
      Assist App
      Change from Google to None

  3. Like I was given a choice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They push it out, no real way to turn off/delete, and claim its a successful product? How delusional are these idiots??

    1. Re:Like I was given a choice? by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

      When they use their market share and clout to stomp competitors, that's no choice.

    2. Re:Like I was given a choice? by Maelwryth · · Score: 2

      You have it wrong. It assists Google, not you! It is mildly worrisome that it is installed on so many devices. Especially since those devices are owned by the people with the most money on the planet. In my country we give children little doses of indoctrination for the good of society (anti-smoking, cultural appreciation, environment, etc....). I wonder what would happen if a tech company decided to take the long view and alter peoples views over the course of twenty years?

      --
      I reserve the write to mangle english.
  4. Or better: by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 2

    How do I uninstall this crap?

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  5. Re:Its so hit-and-miss by aitikin · · Score: 2

    When was that? In 2016 I had issues like the web search results thing, but for at least the past year, the only problem I've had is sometimes it doesn't catch my comments because I have too many things going on on my phone (running too many apps/services on a 2 year old device). When I need it to work (driving) it's almost always been perfect.

    It's also rather useful when I can't take my hands off of what I'm doing (cooking for example) to start timers or double check my memory on how many tablespoons are in a cup (16) or teaspoons in a tablespoon (3). In that application, it's often picking up the wake word from me while playing a video and has been able to do that without issue about 75% of the time.

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
  6. Re:We need a new wiki.. by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Don't be an ass or an idiot. It's the exact contrary - The promise of all the wonderful things technology can do wasn't suppose to be funded by tech companies cannibalizing every personal and private detail about your life and selling it without your knowledge or consent. There's something morally wrong with being forced to accept being constantly watched (camera), monitored (browsing data, texts, apps, usage, purchases, etc) , listened to (microphone), tracked (GPS) without a crime or subpoena because your want to use technology. Like giving away your rights to your own DNA forever (in the ELU of 23andME for example) is morally reprehensible and should be illegal.
    When did citizens stop giving a shit about all those who spilled blood and died protecting freedoms we casually cast away for someone else's profit?