The voice assistants in our phones have always sounded somewhat robotic, but Google is taking steps to do away with that. It’s rolled out a new voice for the Google Now / Search app on iOS and Android, and it sounds a lot more natural than the old version. You’ll definitely still recognize it as a constructed voice, but the obviously robotic tics appear to be far less common.
Google Now’s voice is starting to sound way more natural
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Google’s goal with the updated voice was to put a heavier focus on intonation, making smoother rises and falls in its speech, while doing a better job of mirroring how a human would talk. The change is definitely noticeable. Google’s voice has always sounded a bit smoother than its competitors (to my ears, at least), and this update pushes it even further ahead.
Google’s Nat and Lo shot a sort of behind-the-scenes with the team tasked with improving Now’s voice:
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