Many people prefer to be alone and have their individual and personal moment. Others find the silence completely deafening. thinking about this last point, Google announced last Monday, 10, right on World Health Day, the already much-commented "I'm here for you" Google Assistant. This tool contains a series of responses to help people deal with feelings of loneliness, emptiness or sadness.
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As of this new version, the voice assistant will respond when it hears someone saying they are sad, feel lonely or have no friends. According to the Google Brasil blog, assistant responses were developed by the Google Assistant personality team. They also underwent a review by the company Safe Space, which is primarily focused on making mental health treatments more accessible.
How will this assistant work?
The assistant will work by voice command, as well as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. The assistant will give well-being tips, which were created to support those who are trying to go through delicate situations and strong emotions. At the end of each answer, the Assistant will reinforce the importance of specialized treatment accompanied by a professional in the area, if people feel the need.
Generally, Google Assistant is used, among several options, to set alarm clocks and alarms, find out the latest news of the day and play music. Google explained that during the last few years, especially during the pandemic, people have used the assistant to vent and say what they were feeling at the moment.
Where did the idea come from?
There were reports of tiredness, anxiety and sadness, according to Google. According to platform data, an increase in the number of times the command “Ok, Google, I feel alone” is triggered can be observed. For example, there was a 50% increase from August 2019 to August 2020. These new numbers remain stable to the present day. Similar situations happened with other phrases like “Ok, Google, I feel sad” and “Ok, Google, I'm unhappy”, which had an increase of 20% in the same period of August.
The company informed that the “novelty does not come to replace, in any way, the professional psychological work but to help you, contributing to the improvement of mental health in Brazil and encouraging and bringing recognition to the area". These answers are already included in all versions of Google Assistant in Brazil.
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