Google is rolling out ‘continued conversation’ for Assistant Review

Once turned on, the setting will apply to all of your Google Home Speakers that are linked to your account meaning Google Assistant on any of these devices will stay active for eight seconds after completion of a previous action, during which users will be able to speak to the Assistant without saying "Hey/OK Google".

At its annual developer I/O conference in California, Google announced a list of new features to the Google Assistant including Multiple Actions, six new voice packs, a pretty please for kids, Duplex for making appointments and continued conversations. While some of the features are already out, the Mountain View company is now finally rolling out the ‘continued conversation’ feature which paves the way for natural interactions with the virtual assistant.

While the feature is set as off by default, users can enable it by heading over to Settings > Preferences > Continued Conversation and turn in On. Once turned on, the setting will apply to all of your Google Home Speakers that are linked to your account, meaning Google Assistant on any of these devices will stay active for eight seconds after the completion of a previous action. During these eight seconds, users will be able to speak to the Assistant without using the trigger word “OK Google” or “Hey Google” to make it listen to you.

To stop Google from listening to you or end a particular conversation, all you’d have to do is say “Thank you” or “stop”, though the Assistant will stop being active after it detects that you’re no longer talking. The newest feature is available on all of Google Home speakers - the Google Home, Google Home Max, and Google Home Mini and will be rolled out firsthand to Assistant accounts set to English (US), with more languages to be supported in the coming months.

Also See: Android P gets a new biometric authentication API, Google Says

This with the possibility of Google Duplex happening in the near future, there’s little time left for us to wait for a day when we’ll be able to have a natural conversation with an AI.

Speaking about the update, Google Assistant's Product Manager, Jaclyn Konzelmann said “For the Google Assistant to have a natural conversation, it should be able to understand when it’s being spoken to and should be capable of responding to several requests during an interaction. We’re taking another step forward in making your interactions with the Google Assistant more natural with Continued Conversation, available starting today on Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max.”