The problem with voice assistants is that they can sound robotic. This is because their sentences are stringed together using pre-recorded sounds, and given that there are many ways one might search for something and the different results that come back, it would be an impossible task to have someone record natural-sounding lines for every scenario.
However it seems that Google has been trying to make Google Now’s voice sound more natural. This is according to a recent video that was posted on YouTube in which it shows a user who claims that Google Now has been updated with a more natural-sounding voice. According to some, “Mine literally just switched the robotic sound is completely gone it sounds amazing. No more robot sound in the background it’s extremely natural and sounds surprisingly human-like.”
The change isn’t very obvious, but if you were to listen closely (maybe close your eyes), you’ll notice that Google Now does sound a little bit more human-like in the way that she responds. The tone of voice has more inflection and it sounds less tinny. However according to users on Reddit, it seems that not many of them have received these changes yet.
The folks at 9to5Google are also claiming that they have yet to experience the changes themselves, meaning that either Google is simply testing out the feature with a select bunch of users, or they are rolling it out pretty slow. Either way you can take a listen for yourself in the video above.
Filed in . Read more about Google and Google Now.