Sonos wants to cut off Google’s Assistant with its own Sonos assistant

Smart speaker manufacturers have become dependent on companies like Google. Sonos, for example, uses the Google Assistant and Alexa (Amazon) to control its speakers. Sonos seems to want to end that dependency by developing its own assistant. Sonos seems to especially want to cut Google off, according to a survey by the speaker manufacturer.

Sonos Digital Assistant

Some Sonos speakers support the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. You can use the digital assistants to adjust the volume, skip songs or set up a new playlist. In addition, the assistants also work as a source of information for other questions; for example, you can ask the Google Assistant about the weather or your trip to work.

Sonos – which is currently acquired in a legal battle with Google – wants to offer users the choice to use a Sonos assistant, The Verge reports based on a leaked survey.

‘Privacy by design’

Sonos Voice Control, as the Sonos assistant will be called, can control Sonos speakers “without compromising privacy”, according to the description in the survey. Commands given through the Sonos Voice Control Assistant are processed locally, according to the company. This has the advantage that tasks can be processed faster, because they do not have to be processed in the cloud first. Sonos can also guarantee your privacy, because audio files are never stored in the cloud.

Several functionalities were mentioned in the survey, after which users were questioned about their interest in the functions. Sonos’ Voice Control can control “music and speakers,” according to the survey, by starting or pausing music, skipping and grouping speakers or moving music to another room in the house. On Bluetooth speakers like the Move, Sonos’ assistant can skip songs, adjust the volume and list your battery level. The Hey Sonos hotword is used to control Sonos speakers.

In the survey, Sonos seems to be somewhat of a deal breaker. Under the heading of features the speakers can get, it says “and more” at the end, indicating that the feature set has not yet been fully determined. In addition, it is striking that the Assistant is not named in the survey, while the Alexa assistant did receive a mention. Exclusion of the Google Assistant from Sonos certainly seems to be a possibility. Whether it comes to that may depend on the arrival of the Sonos Assistant.

Launch Voice Control

Whether Sonos’ Voice Control Assistant becomes a reality may depend on the responses the company gets in the survey. A response from Sonos to The Verge shows that Sonos regularly conducts this type of survey among customers and that the company currently has no news to share on the subject. A possible launch of such an assistant is therefore not confirmed, but also not excluded.

Would you rather use the Sonos Voice Control than, for example, the Google Assistant? What do you think of Sonos’ focus on privacy, should more assistants adopt that approach? Let us know in the comments below this article.