More LG Electronics (LG) TV customers will be able to use the Google Assistant on their 2018 TVs with AI ThinQ in the fourth quarter.
LG will be introducing the Google Assistant in seven more markets – Australia, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom – with support in up to five languages. This expansion is part of LG’s global strategy to raise the bar for voice recognition solutions enabled with LG’s ThinQ platform and the Google Assistant built in, the company explains. LG first announced that the Google Assistant would be built into its TVs at CES 2018 with the service debuting in the United States in the second quarter.
The Google Assistant will be available on all of LG’s webOS-based AI TVs in the new markets, offering a wide range of features and boosted accessibility in multiple languages. With the Google Assistant built in, LG’s 2018 AI ThinQ-enabled TVs will allow users to manage daily tasks, find answers or control compatible smart home devices. Simply press and hold the mic button and ask for information, such as the weather forecast, a nearby restaurant’s hours, the latest sports scores or to dim the lights without interrupting the viewing experience.
With help from the Google Assistant, LG’s AI TVs can serve as the centre of the smart home, offering access to numerous devices such as robot vacuum cleaners, thermostats, air purifiers and smart lighting. The Google Assistant is compatible with more than 5,000 smart devices across hundreds of popular brands, making it easier to control speakers and other smart home devices connected via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Customers in English-speaking markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada can already connect Google Home devices to LG AI-enabled TVs to send voice commands directly from their smart speakers. This feature will become available to customers in France, Germany, Japan and South Korea by the end of 2018. Compatibility with Amazon Alexa-enabled devices – currently available in the U.K. and the U.S. – will be expanded to Australia and Canada as well.
LG Home Entertainment Company president Brian Kwon commented: “LG’s vision is to become a major name in all things AI based on our philosophy of open platform, open partnership and open connectivity.
“Beyond the unrivalled picture quality that LG’s premium TVs deliver, the Google Assistant offers even more consumers a new level of intelligence in the home, aligned with LG’s mission to improve the daily lives of its customers through forward-thinking technology.”
