Google is testing an A.I. Assistant that offers life advice

Google is reportedly testing AI assistants that can offer life advice. It is no secret that the American tech giant wants to be at the forefront of the AI technology space.

So, the company is sparing no effort to give its rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI a run for their money. In line with this, Google recently unveiled a new AI search tool that can not only shorten lengthy articles but also simplify coding.

Back in April, Google announced that it was merging DeepMind with the Brain team from Google Research. To those unaware, Google acquired DeepMind, which is a research lab, in 2014. Now, the two groups have teamed up to test ambitious new tools that could turn generative AI into a personal life coach.

Google's attempt to dominate the AI space

It is worth noting that chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard adopt generative AI technology. Google DeepMind has been evaluating generative AI in a bid to perform about 21 different types of personal and professional tasks, including tools to offer life advice, planning instructions, ideas, and even tutoring tips.

This piece of vital information has been revealed by the documents and other materials acquired and reviewed by the folks at The New York Times. The project is a major sign that Google wants to propel itself to the front of the artificial intelligence segment.

To recap, the company was rigorously criticised earlier this year for collecting public data to train AI. Undeterred by this, Google is not shying away from trusting AI systems with sensitive tasks. Much to its chagrin, the technology company was overshadowed by OpenAI's ChatGPT, which arrived in November.

What does the new AI Assistant offer?

According to the NYT report, Google has spent the last nine months trying to prove it is capable of keeping up with OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. As a result, the search giant released its own AI bot dubbed Bard, improved its AI systems, and incorporated the technology into a slew of its existing products like Gmail and its search engine.

According to two people with knowledge of the project, Scale AI assembled teams of workers to test these capabilities. Notably, Scale AI is a contractor working with Google DeepMind. Among other things, the workers are reportedly testing the assistant's ability to answer questions related to challenges in people's lives.

The project's idea creation feature provides suggestions or recommendations based on a user's situation. Meanwhile, its tutoring function is capable of teaching new skills or helping users improve existing ones.

Likewise, the planning capability can be used to create a financial budget for users, meals, and workout plans. However, there is a possibility that the company may not employ the tools, which are currently still being evaluated.

"We have long worked with a variety of partners to evaluate our research and products across Google, which is a critical step in building safe and helpful technology," a Google DeepMind spokeswoman said.

"At any time there are many such evaluations ongoing. Isolated samples of evaluation data are not representative of our product road map," the spokeswoman added.

According to a separate report by The New York Times, Google is testing a helpmate for journalists that can create or rewrite news articles and suggest headlines.