CNBC: Google deploys Assistant team to support Bard development

Google is reportedly transferring its developers working on Assistant to help develop AI chatbot Bard. The future of Google Assistant is therefore uncertain.

In an internal memo, which has been viewed by the American news organization CNBC, writes Sissie Hsiao, head of the Assistant Department, about multiple roles being redistributed. An engineering head for the Assistant division, who “helped shape Assistant into what it is today,” is stepping down from Google and that role will be taken over by the former vice president of payments. The Google Assistant vice president of engineering is now head of the Bard development team. The employee who was previously in that role will be given a different role within the Bard team.

The memo continues, according to CNBC, “As the Bard teams continue this work, we must continue to provide support and seize opportunities that lie ahead.” That all sounds like the Assistant team is now more geared up to help develop Bing Chat competitor Bard and Google Assistant has become secondary.

Ars Technica drew Assistant’s recent history and is already on a downward trend. The site writes that Assistant has been removed from the Nest Wi-Fi and Fitbit and that the driving mode of the Assistant has been removed. The core function to set reminders will also be shutting down soon. In addition, no new Assistant hardware has been released in the past two years. Finally, Ars notes, Assistant devices are sold at cost price and there are no ads or subscription fees involved with Assistant.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is said to have issued ‘code red’ when OpenAI released its ChatGPT model last year. This code would mean that some products need to be tested, approved and ready for release more quickly. That may have happened to Bard.

Google Assistant on a Sonos speaker