Google Launches instant message chatbot

Google has quietly launched Google Talk Guru, an instant message chatbot that can deliver search results and answer queries such as sports scores.

Once a user adds Google Talk Guru to his or her Google Talk chat client, he or she can send it instant messages with a pre-determined set of commands. Here are the current list of commands Google currently supports, as well as some of the company’s examples:

Sport scores: “score arsenal”
Weather: “weather Nairobi”
Calculate: “123 * 45″
Currency: “120 KES to USD”
Definition: “define laptop”
Translation: “translate earth to French”
Web result: “web Mount Kenya”
Help: “help translate”

Unlike the traditional chatbot, Google Talk Guru doesn’t engage in conversation with users; it simply answers queries. It’s yet another way to access Google’s archives of information, though the company’s search engine can perform all of these tasks and then some.