Google, to make the internet helpful for users, has now introduced new features in India so that people can use the features in the language that suits them. The company had announced the same back at its Google For India 2020 event held in July.
New Google features announced
Firstly, Google’s research team in India has also taken a step forward in the AI arena and introduced a new AI model — MuRIL (Multilingual Representations for Indian Languages) — for Google to better understand human languages, specifically the Indian languages. The model is open-source and is available to download via the TensorFlow Hub for free.
Google Search will now be available in more Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, and Marathi, in addition to Hindi and English. The new language tabs have been added four years after the Hindi tab was added, which led to a 10 times increase in Hindi queries in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event to launch these features, Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President, Google India, said, “We hope that today’s announcements provide a flavor of the depth of work underway — and which is required — to really make a universally potent and accessible Internet a reality. That said, the Internet in India is the sum of the work of millions of developers, content creators, news media, and online businesses, and it is only when this effort is undertaken at scale by the entire ecosystem, that we will help fulfill the truly meaningful promise of the billionth Indian coming online.”
Apart from this, users will be able to show search results on Google in Indian languages, making it easier for people to view content in their preferred language even when the query is typed in English. The feature supports five local languages, including Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Google will also let users set the preferred language for its apps without the need to change the phone settings. The feature is currently available for Google Assistant and Discover. The ability to choose an Indian language has also reached Google Maps, wherein users can select any of the nine local languages via the App Language section in the Settings.
Additionally, Google Lens has received a new ability that will help users, particularly parents and students solve any maths query by scanning the problem with the help of Google Lens via the search bar in the Google app.
