Google is planning to replace Assistant with options powered by generative AI, in accordance with a report from Axios. In an electronic mail obtained by the outlet, Google tells workers members that it has already began exploring a “supercharged” Assistant powered by the most recent massive language fashions (LLM), just like the know-how behind ChatGPT and Google’s personal Bard chatbot. According to the e-mail, “A portion of the team has already started working on this, beginning with mobile.”

As a part of this modification, Google says it’s condensing the workforce that works on Assistant. The electronic mail obtained by Axios states that the corporate is “eliminating a small number of roles,” though it’s unclear what number of staff are affected. According to Axios, Google laid off “dozens” of employees. The Verge reached out to Google to verify this, and we’ll replace this text if we get more info.

“We remain deeply committed to Assistant and we are optimistic about its bright future ahead,” Peeyush Ranjan, the vp of Google Assistant, and Duke Dukellis, the corporate’s product director, write within the electronic mail.

While Google doesn’t elaborate on what sorts of options it plans on bringing to Assistant, there are some fairly large potentialities. For instance, Assistant may faucet into the identical know-how that powers its AI chatbot, Bard, probably permitting it to reply questions based mostly on the knowledge it gleans from throughout the net.

“Hundreds of millions of people use the Assistant every month and we’re committed to giving them high quality experiences,” Google spokesperson Jennifer Rodstrom says in a press release to The Verge. “We’re excited to explore how LLMs can help us supercharge Assistant and make it even better.”

It’s nonetheless not clear when Google plans on bringing this know-how to its good house merchandise, although — and I don’t assume lots of people (myself included) could be fully snug with that, given the potential privateness implications.