Google Assistant Updated With Algorithmic Voice Feed For News

Today, Google has rolled out an update for Google Assistant. The “Your News” update aims at giving a new spin to audio news. The feature works by constructing a news feed aided by an algorithm, similar to Facebook feed. Once populated it audio streams the entire stream. Next time you want to catch up with news all you need to do is say “listen to the news.”




Google’s feed will be heavily personalized as it makes use of all that it has learned about you over the years. The company calls it “the audio web.” In my opinion, Your News is much more like Radio news but one that is tailored for your preferences. Needless to say, you can choose what sources you want to listen to and also the order of news.



You might be thinking that Google assistant already offers a way to read the news, so what’s new? To begin with, Your News is highly personalized while the current News Feed is a simple feed curated from many sources. Google will let you hear news about individual topics from a particular news source. Furthermore, news updates will be played as and when it goes live. Google says that users will be able to choose between the new Your News Update or the original one.

The audio is sourced from several news outlets like ABC, Cheddar, The Associated Press, CNN, Fox News Radio, Reuters and other local radio stations. Google has partnered with the news outlets who in turn work with the company and identify the content with the help of unique metadata.

Your News is now available in English in the United States while the global launch is impending. The settings can be found under the You tab, news and switch your News playlist format.

Source: Google