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Google Assistant can fire a gun, seriously

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By Milen Yanachkov

Updated: May 31, 2018, 6:48 AM

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A new feature for Google Assistant is rolling out now that allows the virtual helper to fire guns at your command.

Alright, so it was a lame attempt at a joke, sheesh.

What it is, instead, is a weird, kind of scary, and perhaps worst of all -- really affordable -- hack that allows a Google Assistant device (be it a phone or a smart speaker) to fire a gun on command. Actually, the command used to set the contraption is motion is perhaps even more terrifying than the concept itself – "OK Google, activate gun," to which Assistant replies, "OK, turning on the gun" in its usual, calm, HAL-9000-esque voice.

Put together by Alexander Reben, the hack involves a cheapo CO2-powered pellet gun, an even cheaper TP-Link smart outlet, and a Google Home smart speaker. But don't worry, the creator of this hack says that Amazon Alexa can be just as good of a gunslinger as Google Assistant.

Speaking to Engadget, Reben said that "the discourse around such a(n) apparatus is more important than its physical presence." Which is true, seeing as how the Google Home speaker could have been substituted by a number of other input devices, even including a back massaging chair or an ice cream maker, in Reben's own words. The CO2 pellet gun could have probably also been substituted by something with a bit more of an... oomph.

source: Alexander Reben via Engadget

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