Google Home ‘Help me script’ preview starts rolling out to Script Editor

The generative AI-powered “Help me script” feature for the Google Home Script Editor is now beginning to roll out for those enrolled in the Preview Program.

Previewed last month, the Script Editor adds a new Help me script panel at the right that’s open by default. Google provides some suggestions and an open text field. 

I’ve found that prompts can be quite vague to pretty detailed, and Google Home will return a script for you to copy with a convenient button for doing so in the bottom-right corner. You can also manually rewrite the response inline from the side column.

If you forgot something initially, there’s no way to do a follow-up prompt that quickly adds something to the previously generated script. Every new prompt starts the process over. You have to copy the original command at the top of chat and go from there. There really should be a chat history to compare and contrast scripts, or even commands.

At this stage of the experiment, it makes sense why the AI is literally off to the side and that the generation is not happening in the main text box. However, I do find it odd that there’s no one-tap button to transfer over the generated script instead of having to manually copy/paste. It may have something to do with the prevalent warning: “This is an experimental feature. Do not rely on Help me script for safety-or security-critical use cases.”

Being able to casually express what you want an automation to do is pretty nice and something that I think is actually faster than the in-app workflow, which remains a web wrapper-based experience rather than offering a native experience, if you know exactly what you want to do. It’s also a great way to learn how to script using the Google Home system.

I think the natural evolution of Help me script as a prompt-based UI for Routines in the Google Home app’s Automatons tab. You enter what you want and then can customize by tapping checkboxes.

Help me script starts rolling out today to those enrolled in the Public Preview. Expect wider test availability over the coming month. 

At Made by Google 2023, Rick Osterloh said that the company sees “so many opportunities to bring AI into Google Home to make your smart home more intuitive and helpful.” Google pitched “Home highlights” to summarize camera events with the ability to ask questions and get relevant clips, as well as automations. This is coming next year.