Google’s Allo gets Lucky, its first bot after Google Assistant

A new bot named Lucky is now available on Google’s Allo chat app that lets you search and share randomly selected GIFs based on any word or phrase. It’s kind of like an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search on Google.com.

To talk to Lucky, just type “@lucky” when using Allo. After Google Assistant, Lucky is the first bot or service available that can be summoned with an “@” invocation. GIF suggestions based on the context of your chat can also appear as a Smart Reply, an Allo message recommendation service.

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The Allo app for Android and iOS launched last fall. Since then, Allo has grown to include new features, such as themes that can be set for each conversation, and Smart Smiley, an emoji suggestion service.

Google’s plans for bots on Google Assistant and Google’s many chat and communications apps, like Allo, is largely untold.

At the launch of the company’s Pixel smartphones, Amazon Echo competitor Google Home, and other devices last fall, Google CEO Sundar Pichai called Google Assistant a guide in the age of artificial intelligence.

The AI-powered Google Assistant can do things like search the web, tell you jokes, or tell you what’s on your calendar. Google Assistant has grown new features since its launch as well, including the ability to speak German, Hindi, Hinglish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

More than 60 Google Assistant conversation actions have become available since the Actions on Google platform launched about six weeks ago. Conversation actions on Google Assistant are like skills on Alexa and will be available beyond Google Home later this year.

Google Assistant can be found in the Google Home smart speaker, Pixel smartphones, and soon reportedly on the LG G6 smartphone.

Also in the Google bot portfolio is API.ai, a chatbot maker and machine learning training platform acquired by Google last fall, a day before the launch of Allo. More than 60,000 developers use the platform to make chatbots for 10 different chat platforms, like Facebook Messenger, as well as voice-enabled bots for Cortana, Alexa, and the Actions on Google platform.