Google Assistant Will Offer “Quick Answers” on Chrome OS
Google is testing a feature called “quick answers” on its Chrome operating system that will offer information about any selected text on a website using Google Assistant. Chrome will use Google Assistant to search for information and details about the selected text, providing information to Chromebook users using the Chrome web browser.
Text-to-Voice Assistant Insight
According to the tests carried out at 9to5 Google, Chrome OS users who highlight text in the Chrome browser will see “quick answer” as an option along with the copy, print, and other commands. Choosing that option will bring up suggested definitions, translations, and other information about the highlighted text. Picking “See results in Assistant” as the option will send the text to Google Assistant, as long as it’s enabled on the Chromebook, and the AI will pop up with its own search results.
The feature resembles the Look Up function on Mac computers, albeit with a Google focus and relying on the AI of Google Assistant to provide more comprehensive answers. The feature will also be limited to Chromebooks as is since Google Assistant will need to be embedded within the computer to function this way. It’s not clear when the quick answer function will be generally available, but it will likely appear to Chrome OS in the next few months.
Google Assistant Getting Online
Offering a feature like quick answers for Chrome OS fits right in with Google’s recent effort to extend Google Assistant to online users. Reports emerged this month that Google Assistant will replace the voice search feature in the Chrome browser at some point this year. That integration has been a long time coming, especially after Google Assistant became part of the Google mobile app and Pixel launcher last year.
The native connection between Chromebooks and Google Assistant could also help Google keep ahead of other web browser voice assistants, like the new Mozilla Firefox voice assistant that began testing recently. Google likely hopes people will at least think of the quick answer feature, as the first place to check, even if they use other online assistants like the ones on individual websites powered by speak2web, which offers a WordPress plugin for searching and shopping by voice within websites. For Google’s Chromebook users, the quick answers feature opens another channel for accessing the voice assistant, encouraging people who may not own a Google smart speaker or other smart devices to start using the AI.
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