Confusing the Google Home

[SunnyRio]

I asked "What is 367 to the power of 83?"  It replied with a massive number, reading one digit at a time, ending with "oh oh oh oh oh oh" for ages.  For a laugh, I then said "How many zeros were in the last answer?"  It said "Sorry, I don't understand, but I found something related, would you like to know how many zeros are in the number 2400 times...." (some more numbers I've forgotten).  Then I said "What a strange thing to ask!", to which it responded with some details about how penguins attract mates.  Is it drunk?!

[Princesss]

Hi SunnyRio,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

Google Nest speakers are designed to help us. You can ask Google Assistant for info and for help with everyday tasks. However, some queries won’t work on all devices and in all languages.

For ideas about what Google Assistant can help with, ask "What can you do?"

Here are just few examples of what it can do:

Get local info

• Weather: What’s the weather today?
• Food: Find pizza restaurants nearby.
• Business hours: Is Walgreens still open?
• Navigation: Navigate home.

Plan your day

• Traffic: How’s the traffic to work?
• Reminders: Remind me to do laundry this evening. Remind me to call Mom every Sunday.
• Calendar events: When’s my first meeting today? Add a meeting to my calendar.
• Flights: Is United flight 1463 on time?

Ask Google

• Game updates: Who won the Warriors game?
• Calculations: What’s 20% of 80?
• Dictionary: What does "gregarious" mean?
• Translations: How do I say "Nice to meet you" in French?
• Finance: How’s the S&P 500 doing?
• Unit conversions: How many kilometers in a mile?
• Search: Search for summer vacation ideas.
• Image search: Find pictures of kittens.
• Web answer: How do you remove wine stains from a rug?

Play media

• Music: Play some Jazz music.
• Podcasts: Play the latest episode from This American Life.
• News: Play the news. What’s the latest news from BBC?

Have fun

• Get to know your Assistant: Do you dream? What's your favorite color?
• Games: Let’s play a game. Give me a trivia question.
• Entertainment: Tell me a joke. Tell me something interesting.
• Animal facts: Tell me about giraffes. What’s the animal of the day?

Hope this helps.

Best,

Princess

[SunnyRio]

I worked it out, it thought I meant "tell me something strange".  However, it only seems to know one strange thing.  Try asking it repeatedly "tell me something strange", you will get the same answer every time.  It also doesn't know what "talk to my parrot" means.  I thought AI in the 21st century would be better than this.

[Princesss]

Hi SunnyRio,

I appreciate all your efforts. Let me take this as a feedback instead. I also want to encourage you to send a feedback regarding this and for any features that you’re looking forward to using with our Google Nest devices. Here's how: https://goo.gle/3KrjtXF

Best,

Princess

[SunnyRio]

Feedback left.  Oddly, it does seem to change, but not quickly.  If you wait five minutes, it does come up with something different.

[Princesss]

Hey there,

Thanks for sending a feedback! Let's all hope that this would be one of the features we look forward to in the future. 

Best,

Princess

[SunnyRio]

Why can't I ask "what's 2023 minus 1975?"  I can do any other calculation.  2023-1970 (simpler on second number), 2024 - 1976 (same answer), 2123 - 1975 (more complicated), even 4826 - 2374.  What's happening here?  I'm reading the numbers in full - "what's two thousand and twenty three minus one thousand nine hundred and seventy five?"  I've tried many combinations several times, so it's not just mishearing me, it really can't understand it.  And it's understanding both 1975 and 2023 when joined with other numbers.  Why is it allergic to those two in combination?

There is only one reason I can think of, I'm subtracting my year of birth from the current year.  It can't handle it!  Why?

[MplsCustomer]

@SunnyRio

I tried all five of those subtractions on one of our Nest Hubs, and got correct answers for each.

If I try the current year minus my birth year, I get a correct answer for that as well.

[SunnyRio]

Anyone got an original one to try it on?  Not that it should matter, since it's sent to Google servers for voice recognition.

Mine is a https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/5578/5578849_sd.jpg 

[Alex_S]

Hi there,

I'll merge this thread with your main post, where all the updates will be posted, so we can communicate effectively. You can follow the main thread for any news. Please note that once merged, this original thread will be locked.

Regards,
Alex