Google has gone ahead and added Hindi support to the Google Assistant, allowing you to interact with the AI in the language. The company’s currently in the process of rolling out this change to Android phones running Marshmallow and above, before bringing it to Lollipop, Android Oreo (Go edition), and iPhone models running iOS 9.1 and above as well.
There have been signs of this happening in the past. For instance, the Google Assistant in the brand’s Allo messaging app has been able to speak in Hindi for a while now. Even Reliance’s JioPhone has a special version of the virtual helper which talks in English and Hindi for voice-only queries.
To start interacting with the Google Assistant in Hindi, you’ll have to switch your device language to Hindi and then update the Google Search app to the most recent version. Then it’s simply a matter of holding down on the Home button and saying “Ok Google” to start sending texts or jotting down reminders hands-free.
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Google is trying to market the Assistant as “your helpul dost” which speaks in Hindi and natively understands all the Indian things you care about like finding a biryani recipe, directions to the closest ATM, and pulling up cricket scores. For instance, a typical command can be something like “Kal subah mujhe saat baje jagaao” or “Dadar tak pahunchne mein kitna samay lagega?”
Google Assistant works on the back of machine learning, so it gets smarter the more you use it and let it learn about your preferences. The brand’s opening the Hindi Assistant to developers and businesses through its Actions on Google platform, so you’ll be able to ask it to perform tasks utilizing third-party apps or services.
You can download Google Search via the Play Store or App Store.