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Google removes 'underutilized' Assistant features to focus on 'quality and reliability'

Google has announced that it will eliminate 17 features from its Assistant product, following news that it had laid off "hundreds" of employees from the division.

The company is cutting "underutilized features" to "focus on quality and reliability, it wrote in a blog post, even though a good number of people may still rely on those functions. "Beginning on January 26, when you ask for one of these features, you may get a notification that it won't be available after a certain date," wrote Google Assistant VP Duke Dukellis. Earlier today, Google confirmed that it had laid off hundreds of people from at least three divisions, including Assistant, hardware devices and core engineering.

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