Even Google Maps Has an AI Assistant Now

Technology companies Really I want you to start talking about their products. And sure, it makes sense for an Amazon Echo, or even for ChatGPT’s voice mode, but I’m not sure I need to talk to my apps. Google disagrees: The company is currently rolling out “Ask Maps” to iOS and Android users in the US and India, making Google Maps the latest such product to implement an AI assistant. This begs the question: will you talk to your navigation app when you’re on the road?

Google’s pitch for Ask Maps is this: Rather than searching for generic stops along your route (e.g. “coffee shop”, “gas station”, or “hotel”), you can “Ask Maps” complex questions to increase your chances of finding something specific. One of Google’s sample questions is: “My phone is dying: where can I charge it without having to wait in line for coffee?” That’s a tall order that doesn’t typically suit a navigation app’s search function: You want the app to find a location with public outlets that serve coffee, but that isn’t too busy by the time you leave. Type it into the typical search function and you’ll instantly get a pop-up that says “No results found on Google Maps.”

Google says Ask Maps can analyze information from more than 300 million locations, including sifting through reviews from its more than 500 million contributors. The results also take into account your past searches, as well as any saved locations you may have in Maps. In another example, Google says you could ask your Google Maps assistant to find you a place with a “cozy aesthetic” and a table for four at 7 p.m., to meet friends coming from Midtown East. Ideally, the assistant would know not to find spots in Midtown East, since friends are coming. Since this place, cross-reference restaurants with “comfortable” reviews that have this availability –morePrevious searchers may know that you are vegan, so it will only return results with vegan options.

Credit: Google

This is Google, so of course the Maps Assistant is powered by Gemini. In concept, this is an interesting implementation of generative AI. I certainly wouldn’t have cat with Ask Maps, but I’d be curious if it would really answer these pop-up requests. If I could actually tell Google Maps that I needed to find an available restaurant in 30 minutes that would accommodate both a gluten and peanut allergy, within a 15 minute radius of a concert venue, sure, that would be very helpful.

But AI is not perfect. In fact, he has a habit of inventing things. It would be a shame to walk into this restaurant and find out that it doesn’t have gluten-free options, or that everything is fried in peanut oil, or that there is no availability, or that it is indeed a 15 minute walk away. A concert hall, but not the concert hall you are aiming for. If this query overwhelms the AI ​​and returns results that don’t match part (or most) of the query, or, perhaps, a “No results found on Google Maps” alert, I probably won’t use Ask Maps again.