Google Assistant will let you teach it how to pronounce your friends’ names

Google Assistant is starting to understand more context clues.

What you need to know

• Google has made some improvements to its AI Assistant’s conversational abilities.
• Google Assistant can now understand contextual prompts better than before.
• Users can teach the Assistant how to pronounce the names of their contacts.

Google Assistant is handy when it comes to performing tasks, providing information, and has a pretty good understanding of what’s being asked of it. That said, the AI assistant isn’t perfect, and Google is continuously working on making improvements to it. The latest update from the company highlights some of the improvements that have been made to Google Assistant, which should make it even more helpful at completing tasks around the house.

For starters, Google is now improving the Assistant’s ability to understand context clues. Now, when multiple queries are given, the Assistant will discern between them and better connect later prompts to previous ones. For example, if you set two different timers, Google Assistant can discern between your first and second timer and follow complete prompts respective to either timer.

With the help of natural language processing, Google Assistant can better understand what a speaker is referencing so that it can “respond nearly 100 percent accurately to alarms and timer tasks.” Assistant can also understand what’s on your display, whether it’s any of the best Android phones or a Google Assistant smart display, to better understand the context about what’s being asked. These context clues can also help users talk more naturally to Google Assistant, which can better respond to more natural follow-up questions:

Lastly, Google is giving users the ability to teach the Assistant how to pronounce names better. This should come in handy for many people whose names have unique or unconventional spellings. Users will be able to speak the names of your contacts to Google Assistant, and it will remember how to pronounce them going forward:

Google states that improved contextual clues are rolling out in the U.S. on its own devices like the Nest Audio, and will soon reach other devices. The name pronunciation feature is expected to roll out in the next few days.

Nest Audio

$100 at Best Buy

The Google Nest Audio is an affordable smart speaker that offers impressive sound and a modest design. It features simple user controls, and with Google Assistant, the Nest Audio makes a great addition to your smart home.