Google is testing a new AI bot that makes conversations withpeople using their speech as input. The model was developed for the purpose ofhelping people practise a new language.

Google rolled out this conversational AI bot back in Octoberof last year, but it was underdeveloped at the time as its capability waslimited to providing feedback on spoken sentences. In the latest updatedversion, the bot can now help users practice having ongoing conversations inthe language they are learning; although it currently only supports conversationsin English.

This newly added feature is, however, only accessible for usersof Google’s Search Labs – the company’s sandbox where new Search features canbe tested. The feature is currently available in the following regions:Argentina, Colombia, India, Mexico, Venezuela, and Indonesia. It is not certainas of now whether or not Google will be adding a wider language support to the botor expanding the list of countries.

So this is Google’s take on language learning, but without aproper system that other learning apps, like Duolingo or Babbel, are based on. Regardless,Google claims that the bot can not only assist learners in their languagepractice, but can also help them learn the best usage of words or conjugations withindifferent contexts of conversations. Having said that, AI-assisted language learningis actually not new - it has been previously adopted by some language learningplatforms including Duolingo and Memrise.