14 DAY TRIAL // Google is on a path to technologize everything. It started online and then moved out to wearable devices, self-driving cars and a bunch of patents for various other things that seem to be taken out of movies, such as the neck tattoo that acts as a microphone.
The future holds more of Google’s wacky ideas, things that seem rather crazy right now, such as microchips inside your head and microphones in the ceiling.
“I don’t have a microchip in my head – yet,” said Scott Huffman, the company’s chief engineer, the Independent reports.
However, he does have a bunch of ideas about the future and from his leading position, he can make them happen.
“Computing is becoming so inexpensive that it’s inevitable that there will be a ubiquity of connected devices around us, from our lapel to our car to Google Glass,” said Huffman.
One of his ideas is putting up microphones around the house. Just imagine asking Google for something while moving around the house and getting a response without having to take out your phone. “Like a great personal assistant, it will interrupt you and say ‘you’ve got to leave now’. It will bring you the information you want,” Huffman said.
And since the cloud is always connected, you could even have Google send over footage from the latest game on the living room TV.
Of course, setting aside the creepy vibe this type of technology gives out, it does have its advantages. Let’s just hope that saying “Ok Google” would actually be picked out by the microphones and users won’t have to yell it out three times to get them to activate, which would make for interesting conversations with the neighbors as you try to find stuff at night and end up screaming at your ceiling.
The craziest idea, however, is related to the brain-implanted microchips. Google says that it can fulfill people’s data needs by sending out results directly to microchips implanted in the brain, a technology they’ve already started to research.
“If you think hard enough about certain words they can be picked up by sensors fairly easily. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops,” Huffman said.
The team the engineer leads is also working on creating a richer conversation between users and Google, especially since natural language is much more complex than the company’s technology can currently understand. However, five years from now, they hope to achieve a seamless experience, with Google answering questions the same way a person would.