devices, including ones made by other
manufacturers. With Google’s own products,
though, the company can steer users to
Assistant features even more.
That in turn, could encourage Google users
to interact with other Google services such
as search and maps more frequently, feeding
into Google’s multi-billion dollar advertising
business. More use of the Assistant also means
that Google gets more data on user preferences
and activities to build its advertising profiles.
Amazon and Google are both pushing their
voice assistants onto more devices, though
they have different ultimate goals, said Victoria
Petrock, principle analyst at eMarketer. Amazon
is getting a shopping assistant into every device
it can, she said, while Google is collecting more
information about user preferences.
“I think their end game is trying to collect all this
data and target you with advertising,” she said.
The “helpful” features Assistant announces could
make people even more likely to use it.
“The voice is a whole new way to capture
people’s behaviors,” she said.
Assistant has faced scrutiny this year after
reports revealed that Google contractors
were transcribing some customer’s spoken
communication with the AI to help improve the
system. Google has since clarified its policies
and said it will make it more explicit that people
must give explicit permission, or opt in.
Still, many are skeptical of the proliferation of
digital assistants in homes and pockets.
With the new Pixel, the Google Assistant will
complete some tasks entirely on the device —
so it doesn’t have to wait for answers from the