Report: Google Eyeing AI-Infused Messaging App

 

Google is reportedly beefing up its messaging service to better compete with local and international rivals.
Applying its artificial intelligence expertise, the Web giant plans to incorporate chatbot technology to answer user questions. As described by The Wall Street Journal, chatbots are a sort of smart search engine: Type a query, and the program scours online sources to provide an answer. And the best part is, you don't have to open a new program or navigate away from your conversations.

There is no word on when Google plans to launch this service, or what it will be called. It is also unclear, the Journal pointed out, whether this venture will be any more successful than some of the company's previous attempts.

Google did not immediately respond to TCMall's request for comment.

As messaging programs continue to gain popularity, Google's Hangouts and Messenger struggle to keep up with Facebook's Messenger and WhatsApp, as well as Tencent's WeChat—China's most popular texting service, which also lets users shop, pay bills, and book appointments, the report notes. By integrating software that answers questions inside the app, Google hopes to recapture people's attention.
 
Since acquiring London-based AI firm DeepMind last year for a reported $400 million, Google has been taking steps toward consumer-ready artificial intelligence. In February, the tech titan boasted an AI program that can master video games without human guidance.
 
Google's DeepMind also hopes its technology will give researchers new ways to make sense of large-scale data, opening the door to discoveries in fields like climate science, physics, medicine, and genomics.