Google has taken the lead of the news at its annual India event which took place in New Delhi. The web search giant announced changes to its Tez payment service, and has also introduced a subtle AI-powered feature for its Google Go search app - website reading. And these are just the first of many product announcements to come.
The silicon valley's firm introduced "Google Go"; which is essentially a data-light search app for emerging markets, last year, and this new feature is designed to increase its appeal across India, particularly for non-English audiences.
Just a reminder : Hindi and English are the official languages in India, but its billion-plus population is hugely diverse in terms of language with more than 20 other languages recognized. The majority of those living in urban areas are comfortable with English, but companies are increasingly aware that they need to serve other tongues as well, in order to offer even basic online services to the rest - majority - of the country.
Google is not the only one to adopt this approach as it is actually a relative laggard, but now it is trying to help translate the web with this Google Go new feature.
Google said that the addition here can make website reading just like watching TV or listening to the radio. The feature reads out text in one of 28 supported languages whilst highlighting each word being read as it goes. The firm says it uses AI to seek out the most important information on a web page, and also to read in each language.
Of course there are clear use cases for activities that can pull attention away from reading, such as cooking, but more generaly the feature is seen as part of Google Go’s general approach to making information much more accessible to those who are relatively inexperienced in using internet.