Last year, while at the Google I/O 2018 developer conference, Google previewed the John Legend’s voice as one of six new Google Assistant voices that were in the works. Thanks to Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence and speech synthesis model WaveNet, Google can easily sample human speech, thereby cutting down on studio time, and still create realistic-sounding voices.
How to pick John Legend as a Google Assistant voice
Ask Google to turn on John Legend’s voice. Just say, “Hey Google, talk like a Legend” or “Hey Google, make me a Legend.” This works if you own a device where Google Assistant is always listening, such as a Google Home. But if your device doesn’t have always-on Assistant enabled, launch Google Assistant (long-press the Home button or press the Assistant button on your phone) and say “talk like a Legend”.
Select John Legend’s voice via the Google Assistant app
Open the Google Assistant app on your device, then select the button with three dots, and select Settings. From there, select Preferences, then select “Assistant Voice”, and make your selection.
What can John Legend’s voice do?
At launch, John Legend’s voice is more of a cameo appearance. It won’t be used for every request. But you can say certain things to hear his voice in a Google Assistant response. Here’s a few examples, along with some easter eggs:
John Legend will answer these questions:
“What’s the temperature outside?”
“Why is the sky blue?”
“What’s the weather?”
John Legend Google Assistant easter eggs:
“Are you John Legend?”
“Compliment me.”
“Do you know Chrissy Teigen?”
“How are you?”
“Serenade me.”
“Sing Happy Birthday.”
“Sing me a song.”
“Tell me a joke.”
“What’s your best pickup line?”
“What’s your favorite song?”
“Who’s your celebrity crush?”
Will there be more Google Assistant voices?
It looks like it. Google said “cameo voices” for Google Assistant is a top request, and that “with the help of state-of-the-art speech synthesis model, WaveNet, they’re now a reality”. So, stay tuned!
