Alexa, Siri or Assistant: artificial intelligence comes home
Artificial intelligence is present in the life of anyone with a smartphone. Thanks to voice recognition systems, it is possible to say, “Hi, Siri” or “Okay, Google” and the cellphone will translate the words. This technology hopes to be incorporated in our homes to make our lives easier.
Being able to listen to a specific song just by asking for it out loud? Having the light turn on just by saying it? Requesting an Uber trip without having to open the app? This is what new voice-activated home assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home are promising.
A machine being able to understand what a person says and respond coherently is possible thanks to voice recognition technology. In recent years, a major evolution has taken place – from answering machines that barely offered called ID to the new assistants that can understand different ways of constructing a sentence.
But this is not the only change in these systems, as they have also become more precise. In order to really be useful they must know how to identify a person speaking from far away. Below we discuss the present and future of these home voice recognition systems.
Amazon Echo
Amazon launched Amazon Echo in 2014, its home assistant using artificial intelligence. It is a device that uses voice recognition technology and interacts with electronic devices connected to the Internet in a home. Alexa is the name of the system and it can play a song on a sound system or remind users of appointments from their personal calendar.
Thanks to the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, these devices can recognize voice, understand orders and interact with other devices. It excels at increasing the uses and applications that can work with this system. On the other hand, Alexa has a disadvantage: it only understands English.
Google Home
Google’s response to Amazon has a name: Google Home. It is a similar device with an assistant that has a name, although not its own name: Google Assistant. As a virtual assistant capable of conversation – it can actually have a dialogue with the user. It goes far beyond just responding to an order.
Siri
Apple’s voice recognition system, available since 2011, has a well-known name: Siri. The company could be a step behind as it is not available for developers, so it cannot interact with other apps or devices that are not Apple products. Will the company launch a home product that is also available to third parties?