Google working on a new smarter messenger App to take on WhatsApp
Google has been working on a new โsmartโ messaging app for at least a year, according to the reports from Wall Street Journal. There are also reports that this upcoming messenger from the search giant will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that could help Google compete better against Facebookโs popular WhatsApp and Messenger offerings.
Google VP of communications Nick Fox is said to be personally leading the group that is making the service possible. The team is making use of the fact that Google has an in depth knowledge and experience in AI technology and machine learning, which would be able to understand commands and responds.
Google is known to offer users with search engine services, web browsing services via Chrome, email services via Gmail, Google Hangouts, Google+ and many other services. On the other hand, Facebook is popular for its offerings in the social networking world. It also adds services such as Facebook Messenger and the already mentioned WhatsApp to its list of offerings.
Google along with the AI technology is also said to be adding chatbot technology in the new app, according to the Wall Street Journal. Chatbots are computer programs that scour the Internet and other resources to find and retrieve answers to questions.
The service sounds like it is meant to directly compete with Facebook M, a bot that Facebook is testing inside of Messenger. Like what Google is said to be doing, M automatically searches the web for answers to questions, but it takes that one step further: for more complex queries, a human assistant will take over, allowing M to do things far beyond what a computer could.
This tech by Google is aimed at making the app unique in a way that it will allow users to ask questions right from within the chat app and immediately receive answers sourced from the web by the same app. The new service will integrate chatbots that will respond to queries from within a messaging app, close sources revealed. Those using the application will be able to text friends or direct the message to a chatbot that will then crawl the Web and many other sources for information regarding your query.
It will be interesting to see whether the masses take to the โsmartโ service better than they did to Google Hangouts, Google Messenger and Google+. Exactly what Googleโs rumoured messaging app will be called and when it will be launched is not yet known. Keep following this space to know more!