Google’s Fitbit AI chatbot is a virtual fitness coach on your phone

Keeping track of your fitness parameters on your smartwatch is all well and good. However, have you ever found yourself in a situation where you don’t quite know what those numbers mean?

Well, Google showcased a solution for it recently, at its Checkup 2024 event. Namely, the Fitbit AI-powered virtual assistant. The company also announced that the chatbot will be rolled out to Android devices later this year. Here’s all you need to know.

What can Fitbit’s AI chatbot do?

Fitbit’s AI chatbot, unlike other chatbots, doubles up as a virtual fitness coach on your phone. That’s right. The chatbot can summarise and analyse your fitness parameters and answers any questions you may have about them. In a casual manner, the way your coach down at the local gym would. Google’s Fitbit Labs power the tech, and can give you personalised insights on your fitness parameters. It even provides you with tips and tricks to help improve the same.

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The company didn’t go into great depth about the chatbot at the event. Still, it did showcase an example, wherein a user asked the chatbot to draw a correlation between their activity levels and sleep. The chatbot (accurately) answered that the users’ days which had higher levels of activity also saw them get better sleep. However, it also cautioned the user that there may be several other reasons for it as well.

Who can access the chatbot?

Now, the feature, according to Google, will come out to Android smartphones “later this year.” However, they haven’t mentioned an exact timeline. In addition to this, the company also adds that initially at least, it will only be available to Fitbit Premium subscribers, and those enrolled in the Fitbit Labs program.

Other Google Health initiatives to keep an eye out for

That’s not all Google is doing on the personal healthcare front. The company is using Google Lens to fill gaps where text-based searches fall short. For example, there was a feature introduced last year that uses Lens to identify skin conditions from the internet.

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The feature is available in over 150 countries and can work even when you don’t know how to describe any dermatological issues you may have. Similarly, the company is also working on the feature to power searches for more serious physiological conditions, including migraines, kidney stones, and pneumonia.