Google Assistant gets Continued Conversations update

At this year’s I/O 2018, Google announced that they will be making Assistant more human-like. While Assistant talking to a local restaurant for you sounded fancy, a real implementation that could change the way we use voice-based AI assistants has been rolled out — Continued Conversations. Unveiled at the I/O 2018, the feature promised to make conversations with Assistant more humane.

Google has now started rolling it out in several countries one-by-one, starting with the US. The update is rolling out Google Home smart speakers as well as a smartphone running Google Assistant. Chromebook users can also enjoy Continued Conversations with Google Assistant.

With Continued Conversations, users would no longer need to use the “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” hotwords after a conversation has been started. Assistant will keep listening for 8 seconds after it answers before she stops accepting commands. Users would, however, need to speak out the hotword before the start of the conversation.

Continued Conversations has been added as an update to both the Home and Google app. Do note that the feature is turned off by default, which means you will need to enable if you want to use Continued Conversations. If you aren’t seeing the option in the Settings of your Google or Home app, then make sure you have updated to the latest version. Follow the steps below to switch the feature on:

For Google Home, tap the Devices icon in the Home app on the upper right corner of the main screen. Tap the menu icon on the upper right corner of the card for your Home device. Then tap Settings > More > Preferences > Continued Conversation and toggle it on.

For smartphones, tap the menu icon in the Assistant app in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap menu > Settings > More > Preferences > Continued Conversation.

(source)