Google's AI assistant becoming even more helpful

Google says its artificial intelligence assistant will get a series of updates this year, including one that lets it book rental cars and movie tickets for you.

Google says Assistant will be able to book cars and tickets using online forms on Android phones later this year. The technology behind this, called Duplex, was released last year in the midst of much fanfare and some worries about its ability to sound creepily human when calling a restaurant to make reservations.

Assistant will also be shrunk down on new Pixel phones later this year to a size that lets it understand and respond to some commands without sending information to Google's servers.

The AI is also learning to offer more personal suggestions to users by learning common contact names and addresses.

Google announced the updates at its annual developers’ conference in Mountain View, California.