Latest news with #Kattukaran
Tom's Guide
6 days ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Google apologizes and promises 'major improvements' in response to Home speaker debacle
Google has acknowledged mounting frustration from customers with some of the best Google Home speakers and promised "major improvements" are coming. The issue seems to stem from Google Assistant — the voice assistant that Google is in the process of killing off to make way for Gemini AI. It seems people using products like the $99 Google Nest Audio are finding the voice functionality disintegrating right now — with the products only sporadically responding to commands. Anish Kattukaran, the Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, has admitted as such on X and said the company is working on a long term solution. "Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices," he wrote. "I sincerely apologize for what you're experiencing and feeling! "We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right — and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for [some time] and will have more to share in the fall." We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right -- and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for sometime and will have more to share in the 23, 2025 An apology is always nice to receive, but Kattukaran's response seems a little vague on the details. Only teasing "major improvements" that are coming "in the fall" doesn't exactly help anyone right now. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Users that have spent under $50 on a Google Nest Mini may be willing to look past the dodgy functionality but if you've dropped over $200 on a Google Nest Hub Max, it's harder to swallow. The writing has been on the wall for Google Assistant and Google has been trying to formulate Gemini's eventual takeover for a while now — but the process has been anything but smooth. A year ago, when Gemini first got access to Google Assistant routines, a number of routines didn't carry across. Users also couldn't trigger routines with typed commands, scheduled times, location-based activation, or home screen shortcuts. Actions like playing music, sharing fitness data or reciting poems weren't supported, either. Meanwhile, Google continued to sunset features of the legacy Assistant, which launched back in the dark ages of 2016. In March, it stopped being able to share photos via voice commands, or adjust photo frame settings using your voice. "To continue our work of building the world's most helpful assistant, we've reimagined the experience with AI at its core to make Gemini your personal, AI-powered assistant," the company said in a blog post at the time. "While our expectations for what an assistant can do are rapidly changing, the mission remains the same." Which is all well and good because Gemini is undoubtedly one of the best AI chatbots, but degrading hardware for an unspecified amount of time to make room for it isn't going to engender much faith among customers. If you're a Google Home user and have been experiencing issues with performance, let us know about it in the comments below. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
India Today
6 days ago
- India Today
Google admits Assistant on Home and Nest devices is broken, promises major fixes later this year
Google has publicly acknowledged the ongoing widespread problems users have been facing with its Assistant feature on Home and Nest devices. The company has admitted that the smart home device experience for many users has deteriorated significantly recently. The tech giant has now promised that it is actively working on long-term solutions, with major improvements expected to arrive later this a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, directly addressed the reported problem among users and wrote: 'I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologise for what you're experiencing and feeling.' 'We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right and making sure we have a long-term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for some time and will have more to share in the autumn.' Post on X by Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest Kattukaran's statement comes after several users raised complaints on forums like Reddit, about the problem of Google Home and Nest. Many users flagged noticeable decline in performance with the home assistance. According to users, these issues range from misinterpreted commands and inaccurate responses to devices completely ignoring requests. The issue has been frustrating for users, particularly among those who rely on the devices for daily routines, smart home control, and multi-room audio. One Reddit user summed up the experience bluntly: 'Now, I can barely get it to understand any command, or do anything that I could before. Nothing works, and all I get is – 'Sorry, something went wrong, try again later.''For many, the problems with Google Assistant go beyond minor glitches. Users have reported that their Assistant triggers the wrong actions entirely, such as turning off lights when asked to switch off a fan, or playing media in the wrong room. In another case, a parent shared that they can no longer get white noise to play in their child's bedroom—it now defaults to the room the command is issued from, regardless of user described how weather requests from different household members offer bizarre and inaccurate results: 'I ask for the weather, and it responds correctly every time. My wife asks for the weather, and it literally picks wherever it wants. Yesterday it was Eddyville, Kentucky. Today it picked Shawnee, Oklahoma. We don't even live in that state.'Even media playback has become unreliable. Another user recounted how asking Assistant to play 'Classic Vinyl' on SiriusXM instead launched a Spotify track by a band called 'Classic Vinyl,' which turned out to be an AI-generated country group with a politically charged song titled 'AOC.'- Ends
