Hello Google Allo, Goodby Privacy

Hello Google Allo, Goodby Privacy

Holly Wagner, Webmaster

Google released its new messaging app, Google Allo on Wednesday September 21st and it contains some compelling new features. Specifically, it contains Google Assistant, which brings some potential new privacy threats to the messaging world.

Google Assistant uses information from your search history and past messages to add new responses to your conversations. According to Elyse Betters from pocket-lint.com,

“Allo uses machine-learning and natural language processing in order to suggest replies on the fly, meaning it can anticipate what you want to say next and how you might say it.”

The question is: Would you want a computer to send your messages for you? Senior Suzi Faulkner shares her opinion:

“No I wouldn’t. The way in which I respond is very unpredictable. I just don’t trust it to send messages that would make sense in the context.”

Like Siri, Allo was born out of a desire to simplify human-to-phone (and now phone-to-human) interactions. However, communication between humans is sacred and some might be hesitant to invite a computer into their conversations.

How much of an effect will this really have on the way that we communicate digitally? Perhaps not that much. After all, when Apple launched Siri in 2010 it sparked initial interest but never really assimilated into our culture.

When compared with other popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp and imessage, Allo is not really much different aside from its Google Assistant feature. Like its competitors, Allo will give you a speedy, aesthetic overall messaging experience.