Google Assistant on Home is now getting third-party developer support

Google Assistant on Home will start getting support third-party developer apps with 'Actions on Google' API.

Google Home, Google Home Actions, Google Actions, Google Assistant, Google Assistant Third-Party Support, Google Gupshup, Google Home Assistant, Google Assistant developers

Google Assistant on Home will start getting support third-party developer apps with ‘Actions on Google’. (Source: Reuters)

Google Assistant on Home will start getting support third-party developer apps with ‘Actions on Google’. The API (application programming interface) for ‘Actions’ is now out officially and will let developers create custom commands in order to interact with users of the Google Home device, which is powered by the Assistant. The official Google blog post says, Assistant on Allo messaging app and Pixel phones will be getting ‘Actions’ support later.

Google notes in its blog post, “Google Assistant brings together all of the technology and smarts we’ve been building for years, from the Knowledge Graph to Natural Language Processing.” Now the Assitant will help connect apps and services via the voice commands. Google previewed ‘Actions’ in October when it announced the new Pixel phones.

Essentially developers will be able to build “Conversation Actions for Google Home.” Google says developers can also ask to “become an early access partner” for their platform. ‘Conversation actions’ will allow users to engage with the Home speaker and make purchases, get information, access to services, do a booking, etc. For example, in future, the Google Assistant on Home could support booking an Uber directly from the device itself via a voice command or action.

Also read: Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Which one is better?

Google envisions this as a conversation between Assistant and users; it says won’t need to enable a skill or install an app to fulfill the action. A user can just talk to the particular action created by the developer. Google has two examples of how this is possible. For instance, a user can say “Ok Google, talk to Number Genie ” or “Ok Google, talk to Eliza.’

Google has partnered with conversational interaction development tools like API.AI and Gupshup for ‘Actions’ along with analytics tools DashBot and VoiceLabs. Gupshup, which is based in Silicon Valley, is a leading bot platform and Actions is using Gupshup’s cross-platform development tools. Other partners include consulting companies such as Assist, Notify.IO, Witlingo and Spoken Layer. Google has also created a collection of samples and voice user interface (VUI) resources for developers that they can check out when working on their ‘Actions’.

Google says they will add more platform capabilities over time and will bring integrations across on Assistant for Pixel phones and Google Allo later on. Google will allow support for purchases, bookings and “deeper Assistant integrations across verticals,” in the future.

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The Google Assistant API comes at a time when smart home devices like Amazon’s Echo powered by its Alexa assistant, and Google Home are seen as the future. Amazon’s Echo has the advantage as Alexa already has third-party support, and can carry out a lot more commands that Google Home right now. But with third-party support coming to Google Assistant, the company has no plans to lagging behind.

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