Google Home Updates: I/O 2017 Keynote Brings New Features To AI Assistant Hardware

Google announced a host of new features for its Google Home AI assistant at its I/O 2017 keynote Wednesday. New features include proactive assistance, hands-free calling, visual responses and expanded support for various music and video applications.

Proactive assistance helps users keep on top of tasks that are already included within other features such as Google Calendar. For example, Google Home will alert users of when they need to leave home to get to an event on time.

Hands-free calling allows users to enable a phone call by simply asking Google Home to call a contact. This feature is personalized to users' voices within a household. For example, you ask Google Home to call your mother, it will recognize your voice and call your mother. If your roommate asks Google home to call their mother, it will recognize their voice and call their mother.

Visual responses allow users to pull up information, originally commanded through Google Home onto a screen, such as TV.

Google also announced support for entertainment for applications including Spotify, Deezer, and Soundcloud. Users can now command Google Home to play music from any of these applications. Also coming to Google Home is Bluetooth connectivity and HBO Go support.