To take on Amazon Alexa, Google announces new features for Assistant

Google Assistant is about to get a lot smarter.

Google has announced several new updates to its voice assistant which will roll out throughout this year.

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Routines, announced in October, arrive today. The feature will enable Assistant to execute multiple tasks from a single voice command. For example, upon hearing "Good morning," Google could turn on the lights, read the news, and start boiling water.

This isn't exactly a new idea: Amazon released in late 2017 the same function for Alexa. Still, for smart home owners loyal exclusively to Google, it'll be a handy convenience.

Google expects Routines to work with more than 1,000 smart home products from over 100 brands -- so even if you're not a Nest owner, you can take advantage.

The company will also implement deeper integration between Google Assistant and both smartphones and carriers throughout this year.

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This means Assistant will have greater control of your phone's hardware in the future. Google Assistant commands will work even when your screen is off, and Assistant may be able to control apps like your camera, depending on what hardware partners support.

Google is also working with wireless carriers to integrate Assistant into their services. This means you could potentially check how much data you have left, or change your plan, using Assistant.

"This gives carriers a new way to support their customers while reducing response time," wrote Google's vice president of product Nick Fox in a blog post. "Carriers Sprint, Koodo, Telus and Vodafone are already developing integrations with the Assistant, with more coming soon."

Mashable has reached out to Google for comment, and will update this article if we hear back.

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The company also announced that it plans on rolling out Assistant in more than 30 languages by the end of this year. It's currently available in eight languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese. In the works are Danish, Dutch, Hindi, Indonesian, Norwegian, Swedish and Thai.

Assistant will also soon become multilingual, meaning it'll be able to keep up with and speak to users or families who speak multiple languages.

The company is also introducing location-based reminders to its smart speakers, meaning you'll be able to say "Remind me to pick up milk when I get to the grocery store" to your Google Home, and get the reminder on your phone.

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TopicsArtificial IntelligenceGoogleGoogle AssistantGoogle Home

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