Google Hangouts will get a lot smarter with the aquisition of Emu
Google just enhanced its AI stable with the acquisition of Emu, a texting app with a built in artificial intelligence assistant.
The assistant allows users to schedule lunches, share location, and set reminders without needing to go through the usual rigmarole of triggering all the apps involved. Emu uses machine learning and natural language processing to learn the habits of the user and automagically adds relevant information. Emu even has a feature that will auto-respond to messages if the device owner is driving.
When a message calls for a schedule, Emu brings a calendar directly into the conversation. When a location or event is part of the discussion, Emu brings in search results and maps in order to open up opportunities. The assistant can even allow the user to send their current location to parties in chat, and update it on the fly.
Of course, the location-enabled version leads to some amusing privacy-invading scenarios—but only at the behest of the user—when Emu constantly updates the location of the device in a conversation. The location sharing blog post on Emu’s site jokes about a Nerf ambush (co-founder on co-founder) facilitated by the location sharing capability.
Thursday, Tinker Square, Inc. announced on emu.is that the system would be shutting down August 25th, as is standard procedure for many Google acquisitions. Until then, interested users can still download the app from the iPhone App store and try it out.
The Emu team beamed with delight on their webpage. “We’re super-excited,” they said, to join Google.
Emu was first launched for Android back in 2013, but that project was quickly discarded in favor of an iPhone app.
As a virtual assistant, Emu has the best minds working on producing an interesting product, starting with co-founder and CEO Gummi Hafsteinsson, an ex-Google and ex-Apple employee, where he worked with Siri engineers.
The exact amount paid in the acquisition by Google for Emu has not been disclosed.
Emu is a fitting acquisition for Google and is in line with the company’s move towards messaging, social media, and contextual control of information resources. As a user experience enhancement, Emu’s capabilities would integrate extremely well with Google’s Hangouts feature—giving people on the web and Android the additional support of expanding their messaging capability.
Image courtesy of Tinker Square, Inc. developer of Emu at http://emu.is/press/
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