Google, too, has been working to make its voice interface, and the artificial intelligence behind it, personable. Last week the company rolled out Google Home, an Echo-like device powered by Google Assistant, its version of Alexa. But people have been talking to phones, tablets and computers powered by Google software, which has among the best voice recognition in the industry, for years.

To infuse personality into Assistant, Google employs writers who have worked on movies at Pixar and crafted jokes for the Onion, says Gummi Hafsteinsson, product-management director of Google Home. Getting it right also requires paying attention to details such as latency—humans have no patience for it in conversation—and tone of voice, such as stressing the word “now,” when Assistant says, “Setting a timer for two minutes starting now.”

Ultimately, Mr. Hafsteinsson says, Google wants to build an emotional connection with the user—though that is still a ways off.

None of these systems are “true” artificial intelligence in the sense of having real understanding of conversations. They interact with users largely through scripted responses, though Google also leans on its massive search database, and improving natural-language processing ability, to deliver answers.

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