Play the Oldies Version

Driving in the car, I’ve become more impressed with Google Assistant’s ability to hear and respond. I’ve also been impressed with its comprehension.

It’s funny that I’m more impressed when something recovers from doing something wrong the first time.

“OK Google… play Montego Bay”

It played a version by the Allniters. No good.

“OK Google… play the Oldies Version of Montego Bay”

Yup… it got it.

The ability to disambiguate is critical when a prediction has low confidence between two or more choices. The ability to take past information to help disambiguate can make an experience seem magical.

Some questions a service might ask:

What was requested in the past and served successfully?

Which choice of similar confidence is better in terms of recency, popularity, or some other variable?

Is the user making the same request again?

Or, just present the choices and ask for clarification.