What is the assetlinks.json file for, when using Android deep links?

I'm trying to get deep links to work in my app.

From what I read here, it is enough to add an Intent filter to the app. I tried that and it works fine:

  <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
         <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
         <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
         <!-- Accepts URIs that begin with "http://www.example.com/gizmos” -->
         <data android:scheme="http"
               android:host="www.example.com"
               android:pathPrefix="/gizmos" />
     </intent-filter>

Reading about "digital asset links" over here, it says:

Website A declares that links to its site should open in a designated app on mobile devices, if the app is installed.

This involves uploading an assetlinks.json to my server.

But I cannot see the benefit of doing this if the intent filter already opens my app, so what is the point?