GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles 

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is kicking off its artificial-intelligence-powered vision for the future with a pair of apps. On Wednesday at the 10th annual Google I/O developer conference, Google introduced Allo and Duo, which will arrive for both Android and iOS later this summer.

Allo is a smart messaging app with strong security features and the Google AI Assistant built in. It can learn your texting patterns over time, to make conversations more expressive and productive. It suggests automatic replies to incoming messages -- even if someone sends a photo. If it is a dog, for instance, the app will try to guess the breed.

In addition to emojis and stickers, there is a "whisper and shout" feature that lets you use a slider to make text giant or tiny.

Using the Google Assistant, you can get suggestions and even book a reservation through OpenTable without leaving the chat. More apps will work with the assistant feature in the future.

Google Assistant is also meant to provide a continuing, conversational dialogue between users and the search engine. If you type "@google," it will run a search query inside the app. Anything you can find on Google.com shows up in the app, including weather, sports scores and even YouTube videos.

You can also play games with the Google Assistant, like an emoji trivia game where the assistant sends emojis that describe a movie title.

This feature, especially, challenges Facebook's own Messenger app, which recently added chat bots meant to connect users with services.

All chats will be encrypted, but a special incognito mode will have an end-to-end encryption, and expiring chats that are permanently deleted once you leave them.

Duo, a simple one-to-one video chat app, will also have end-to-end encryption. Like Allo, it is based on your phone number rather than an account, so it is easy to connect with other people. Duo's unique feature is "knock knock," which allows you to see a live view of who is calling before you pick up.

Google says Duo will be able to switch between Wi-Fi and cellular, without compromised performance.

Google's Duo app for iOS will compete directly with Apple's FaceTime on iPhones. Google's Hangouts app, which has had some success in enterprise use, is designed for groups as well as one-on-one chat.

Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2016 15:44 ET (19:44 GMT)

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