CES 2018 news: Google finally participates at CES, Assistant to compete with Amazon's Alexa AI

After years of being "silent," Google decides to actively participate at CES this year. REUTERS/Neil Hall

After years of being silent, Google decided to join the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year. The company is not subtle about it, too. All over the venue in Las Vegas, Nevada, Google set up props that advertised their presence at CES this year.

Google's trademark slide, which can be usually seen only in the company's headquarters in California, is now set up at the CES convention center's parking lot. In addition, the phrase "Hey Google" is prominently seen at the installation, indicating that the company will be pushing Google Assistant functionality this year.

The "Hey Google" catchphrase is also visible as a decal at the cars of the Las Vegas monorail.

Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Max will most likely make an appearance at the CES showcase. However, if the nature of the advertising is to be considered, the company will most likely try to push Google Assistant as a viable option for most devices.

LG is one of the companies that supports Google's artificially-intelligent (AI) digital assistant. The company has already announced that their new line of televisions will have support for Google Assistant. The AI will be preinstalled on the TVs' software.

However, LG also supports Amazon's Alexa, which can be considered as Google's top competition.

Alexa has been prominent at CES in the past years, even dominating past shows in terms of AI assistant productivity and compatibility. In comparison, Google has never actively participated at CES before.

This leads to reports of a rivalry. There will most likely be a "fight" for AI prominence between Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant.

Similarly, it could also mean that Amazon's line of Echo smart speakers will face competition in the showcase, with Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Max present.

In any case, Google's decision to go head-to head with Alexa makes this year's CES a promising one, indeed.