Google Assistant adds parental controls, an educational dictionary, new kid-friendly voices

I’ve always loved Google’s family-centric updates. Any time I see that the company is focusing on the kiddos and how they interact with technology and subsequently, how parents can manage those interactions to protect them as they grow and learn to absorb the world around them, I’m stoked. Today on The Keyword, Google announced a few new updates for Assistant that will help children’s smart display and voice interactions with the AI helper seem more natural and more friendly.

First up, parental controls for Assistant are now a thing! As you can deduce from the image below, the new settings will let you set downtime for voice commands, choose services for audio and video that are appropriate, and more. In some instances, you can completely cut out the ability for your kids to listen to news and podcasts or make calls, which is a relief since the Nest Hub always recommends the latest #FloridaMan news in my home.

If you’d like, you can apply these restrictions across the entire home or on specific devices like those found in your child’s room, for example. These tools will be rolling out to you over the next few weeks across Android and iOS.

Next, a built-in educational dictionary can be called up with images to help inform your little ones on the definitions of things. In the past, Assistant wouldn’t allow your children to set up voice match, but now, it will require it in order to show this specific version of the dictionary. The goal of this feature is age-appropriate answers across your speakers, smart displays, and mobile devices.

Last, but certainly not least, is a set of four new Assistant voice personalities that are meant to be more welcoming to a younger audience. By asking your son or daughter to say “Hey Google, change your voice!”, the new interface should appear, asking them to choose between a purple, blue, green, or pink square with a mouth, along with audio clip examples.

Of course, parents can locate these settings by manually navigating through Assistant settings, but vocalizing it is easier. Try these culturally diverse voices with storytelling actions before bedtime and in other scenarios to give your child the sense that they have a friendly teacher helping them comprehend things instead of a boring corporate, automaton voice!