Google Assistant ‘Pretty Please’ feature thanks you for being polite

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• On Thursday, Google announced the release of its “Pretty Please” feature for Google Assistant, which helps encourage polite manners when interacting with its AI smart home devices.
• The “Pretty Please” feature works when users talking to their Google Assistant include words like “please” or “thank you” in their requests.
• If a user says: “Hey Google, please set a timer for 5 minutes.” The response may be something like: “Thanks for asking so nicely. Alright, 5 minutes. Starting now.”
• In April, Amazon announced a similar feature called “Magic Word” for its smart assistant Alexa to reward and reinforce polite behaviors amongst users. 

Google Assistant wants to help you with your manners. 

On Thursday, the company announced the release of its “Pretty Please” feature for Google Assistant, which helps encourage polite manners when interacting with its smart home devices. The feature was first announced at Google’s I/O developers conference in May and it’s rolling out in time for the holidays. 

The “Pretty Please” feature works when users talking to their Google Assistant include words like “please” or “thank you” in their requests. Like, “Hey Google, please set a timer for 5 minutes.” With “Pretty Please,” a Google Assistant might respond to that request by saying: “Thanks for asking so nicely. Alright, 5 minutes. Starting now.”

The idea behind “Pretty Please” is to reinforce polite behaviors for children and adults as well. The feature is now live on Google’s Smart Speakers and for all those who have registered their voices with the Google Assistant app. 

In April, Amazon announced a similar feature called “Magic Word” for its smart assistant Alexa to reward and reinforce polite behaviors amongst users, especially children. 

Read more: A baby in the UK reportedly said ‘Alexa’ as his first word, and it reveals a raging debate over how children use tech

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