The Pokémon Company Ltd. will release an original AI Speaker application called Pikachu Talk (ピカチュウトーク) in Japan during 2018 for AI speakers such as Google Home, Google Home Mini and Amazon Alexa. Those that have a compatible AI speaker can enjoy a conversation with the popular character Pikachu through Pikachu Talk.


Takayuki Shindo and Kei Ogawa of The Pokémon Company discussed the development of the device with Watch Impress. Kei Ogawa is also in-charge of developing the Pokémon GO Plus peripheral for the smartphone application Pokémon GO.

Since smart speakers are just in their infancy, the development team focused on simple functions such as a having a basic conversation with Pikachu so that anyone could enjoy it.

Akihito Toda (戸田昭吾) also worked with the development team. Mr. Toda is best known for his work on the Pocket Monsters anime doing numerous lyrics of opening songs and ending songs. Mr. Toda helped with the script to make it seem more natural. Since there are many different scenarios, it was neccessary for Pikachu voice actress Ikue Ōtani (大谷育江) to record more than 100 different voice patterns.

The Pikachu in Pikachu Talk is not Satoshi's Pikachu that we all know from the anime, despite Ikue Ōtani doing the voice acting. If you say the name "Satoshi" or the name of other Pokémon Trainers from the animation, it will not recognize or react differently.

Sources: https://k-tai.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1089228.html and http://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20171101028/