Chromebooks Will Soon Get On-Device Google Assistant
Jun. 19, 2020TheGoogle Assistantis an integral part of the Chromebook experience. With its versatility and ease of use, Google Assistant has evolved to be one of the most efficient virtual assistants out there.
If you’ve been using Google Assistant, you would have noticed that performance usually takes a hit when you use it in networks with slow or limited connectivity. This happens because the Assistant typically communicates with the cloud to process your queries.
According to a new flag spotted by Chrome Unboxed onChrome OSCanary,Google is working to enable on-device Assistant support for Chrome OSbehind the scenes. We could expect improvement in the Assistant’s overall performance once the on-device Assistant kicks in. However, we will have to wait to see how noticeable the difference would be.Image: Chrome Unboxed
Although the flag doesn’t quite describe the functionality,9to5Googlefound a comment in a commit on Chromium Gerrit that reads“Enables on-device-assistant to handle the most common queries on device.”
It remains unclear if the on-device Assistant will be available in all Chromebooks. As per the report, devices with Kukui (codename for MediaTek MT8183 processor) will support it. This includes devices such as Lenovo Chromebook Duet tablet. We could expect Pixelbooks to be included as well.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
