Google just announced that it is now allowing third-party developers to fool around with its Google Home.
Developers now have the chance to create chatbots that could interact with the smart speaker. These bots will be part of Actions on Google, a "major ecosystem for apps and services" as described by Android Police.
Google actually announced this move back in October during an event to showcase Google Assistant and the company's new devices. At the time, Google already mentioned that the "Actions on Google" platform will be made available at the end of the year. Now that December has come, the company is pushing through with its promise. Sort of.
The opportunity to create 'conversation actions' for Google Home will start "early next year", according to a report.
The commands that will be created by the developers will not be installed but will be accessible through the cloud. Google will place these "conversation actions" in the cloud where users can enable them through Google Assistant-enabled devices.
A blog post by Google's PM Director for Actions, Jason Douglas, described Conversation Actions as a way to "deliver information, services, and assistance" by just having a conversation with Google Assistant. There is no more need "to enable a skill or install an app".
Douglas mentioned that the company has already provided a couple of developer samples which the user can experience by simply saying "Ok Google, talk to Number Genie" or "Ok Google, talk to Eliza". Number Genie takes the user to a number guessing game while Eliza is an old chatbot experiment created in the 1960's.
Google has created a website for Actions on Google to help facilitate third-part developers. Google is also working with DashBot, VoiceLabs, API.AI, Gupshup, Assist, Notify.IO, Witlingo, Spoken Layer and other companies
The Actions on Google platform and the contribution of the public will help Google Home in its battle with other smart speakers particularly Amazon's Echo which features Alexa.
