Google quietly rolls out ‘Star Trek’ search feature

Paramount/Bloomberg

Google this week quietly launched its new conversational search feature, currently available in the latest version of Chrome. The idea is to talk to Google and get voice responses back, much like the computer in Star Trek.

	Sponsored Links
	Planning for Retirement? $500,000 portfolio? Download the guide by Forbes Columnist Ken Fisher's firm. www.FisherInvestments.com
	Expanding or moving offices? Leave the PBX behind, and switch to RingCentral Office with voice, fax and text. www.ringcentral.com/office
Get Listed Here

By Luke Stangel

Google’s new conversational search feature went live overnight, after being quietly inserted in the most recent version of Google Chrome. The goal is to talk to your search box and get responses back in conversational form.
To try out the new feature, update to Chrome 27, click on the microphone icon in the search box and ask, “How old is Michael Jordan?” Your words will automatically appear on the page, and Google will respond with the answer.
Next ask, “How tall is he?” The new feature is smart enough to know the ‘he’ you’re talking about is Michael Jordan, who you just searched for previously. Eventually, the idea is to build a search product that you can talk to like a real person, without the need for a search bar at all.
Conversational search represents a combination of previous technology projects at Google. Simple voice search launched to the public in mid-2011, a feature that simply transcribed your voice into a text search query. Being able to intelligently link your latest search query with previous search queries first launched in 2008.
A big, unanswered question remains—does this mean Google is now listening to everything we say? Search Engine Land reports Google is still figuring that piece out, and would probably only record and send back voice recordings after getting a specific prompt, such as the “OK Google” prompt in Google Glass.
Want the day's news sent to your inbox? Sign up for our email newsletters here.
NASDAQ:GOOG