Another feather added to the crown of Google Home. The voice-activated assistant of Google can now recognise different voices, as in who is talking to it on Google Home speaker. An update released recently enables Home's built-in assistant to learn the differences among the voices of up to six people. However, Home will not be able to recognize if all six talk at the same time to the machine.
Distinguishing voices of different persons will give it more ability to provide more personal experience to the users. For example, once the assistant recognizes the voices it will be able to provide users with data according to their past searches.
This feature would also Give Google Home an edge over its biggest rival Amazon Alexa.
However, one shortcoming of this feature is as long as the microphone is turned on Google Home will not prevent an unauthorized voice from activating the assistant.
This loophole recently allowed Burger King to air a TV ad that showed the phrase "OK Google" to prompt Home's assistant to recite the ingredients of the fast-food restaurant's Whopper burger from a Wikipedia entry.
Although, Google quickly blocked Burger King's commercial, but it essentially illustrated how the technology can be manipulated. It could eventually incorporate a feature where Home's users can block others from accessing the device, but Google isn't ready to do that yet.
"It's important to balance making sure the assistant on Google Home is still useful and able to answer a guest's or friend's question while also answering a few specific questions just for you," Google spokeswoman Kara Stockton said.0
Also, the voice distinction feature isn't for the Google Assistant on Google's Pixel phone or other smartphones running on Android. The tech giant thinks the technology is not necessary on phones because most of those devices are password-protected and are usually used by just one person.
