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Api.ai CEO Ilya Gelfenbeyn Talks About Conversational Voice Interfaces (Video)
Api.ai makes an Android voice-controlled utility called Assistant. I have it on my Android phone. It is one of many simiar apps, and I have been trying them a little at a time. Are any of them as good as Siri? Let's just say, "Quality varies."
And Android voice assistants aren't the point of this interview, anyway. It's more about the process of developing interactive, voice-based IO systems. This whole voice/response thing is an area that's going to take off any year now -- and has been in that state for several decades -- but may finally be going somewhere, spurred by intense competition between the many companies working in this field, including Ilya's.
And Android voice assistants aren't the point of this interview, anyway. It's more about the process of developing interactive, voice-based IO systems. This whole voice/response thing is an area that's going to take off any year now -- and has been in that state for several decades -- but may finally be going somewhere, spurred by intense competition between the many companies working in this field, including Ilya's.
They are ironically showing just how shitty voice commands are.
Would you rather 'tap, tap, tap' or say 'yes'...'Yes'...'YES GODDAMIT'....'no'...'proceed'.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
It's there now but you need javascript to see it. I hope to see more articles that reference videos start doing this.
Pro-tip, hipsters: people don't need to make stuff more skeumorphic (or whatever the non-visual equivalent is), because computers are part of the real world now. In particular, just because it was routine to ask humans for stuff in natural language, it doesn't mean it's the most efficient way of getting stuff from computers.
This is why VR has been just round the corner since the '80s, and strong AI since forever. They're solutions looking for problems.
(Well, OK, strong AI is a problem looking for a problem - since a silicon-based strong AI has the natural rights of a human.)
Why is he being interviewed in a nursery? The background is a distraction as I keep wondering what circumstances led to his being interviewed in a nursery. Also, who is doing the interviewing? One of the biggest problems I have making it more than ten-seconds into these interviews is the person doing the interview. Terrible voice for interviewing. Poor sentence structure and all around word usage. Oh yeah, "Uh" and "Um" are not words. Some time back someone else was conducting an interview and they did a passable job.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
... Will such a voice interface be able to understand or pronounce "Api.ai CEO Ilya Gelfenbeyn"
There are a couple of things on your site you might want to change to make it more... better.
"I'm in a mood for a comedy."
Should read:
"I'm in the mood for a comedy"
"Show route to the Battery Park."
Should read:
"Show the route to Battery Park."
"Hey Robot, can you clean in the living room now?"
Should read:
"Hey Robot, clean the living room."
After all if it says no we have a big problem ; P
You should also re-write the "requests processed" counter to at least look variable.
I'm not picking on you. Constructive criticism is important and so are little details.
Editors: fix summary link to his companies website. It's not like we all can't figure it out, but it is still unprofessional.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Let's just say, "Quality varies."
Or, instead, you can something which actually means something. Does it vary from good to excellent? Or from terrible to abysmal?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
There's a place for the tech but it's not meant to replace the keyboard all together. I honestly see more value in interaction with augmented reality using hands than this stuff. I see engineers work with 3d models everyday and if they could they would plunge their hands in the monitor.
Data input will always be better on a keyboard and remains far more private than any conversation you may have with your computer software.
It is not as good as Siri; it is just as bad. Anything outside a direct, simple question, and she gets her knickers in a twist. No common sense whatsoever, apparently not much in the way of memory of the conversation, and prone to come up with nonsense when it gets lost - which happens very quickly. Yep, just as pathetic as Siri. Another gimmick good for parties and for grins and giggles, but little else.
Personally, I've found some good uses for it when I got an Amazon Echo. FWIW, this isn't an ad.
I had expected to use some features much more, and I figured I probably wouldn't end up using it much. I have ended up using it more frequently than I thought, those it's still no more than a few times a day. Some example:
* while doing dishes, brushing my teeth, or toweling off from the shower, I might ask it for the weather, if it's going to rain today, what time is it, how long it will take me to get to work, etc (not all those at once... I usually have a general idea about most of them already, but just want to check on one of them).
* while working at the computer, I might ask it to do something for me... maybe turn off some lights, or play some music, or spell some word, or look up some fact. Those are all things I can do from the computer, but I'm busy typing something else - a quick question like those is easily handled by it at the same time I'm doing other stuff.
* All my grocery shopping lists are on it now (it has a built in shopping list, and a todo list). This is the thing I use most regularly. Ex. while making coffee in the morning, I run out of milk (or almost run out), and, while I'm still pouring it and putting it away and stirring my coffee, I just say, "alexa, add milk to my shopping list". Done. This has been the killer app for me. If this was all it did, it'd be worth it to me, and I know that sounds completely asinine, but that's why I felt like this was worth sharing :-)
I'd like to list a few things it's missing, but I recently learned about the new "Skills" feature. "Skills" are something devs/others can make, and then you use them by doing stuff like: ...
* Alexa, ask Campbell's Kitchen what's for a recipe
Alternatively:
* Alexa, launch
*
* Stop
http://lovemyecho.com/2015/10/...
I note this because as soon as I got this thing, I really wanted it to send me a copy of the transcribed text somewhere so I could pick out bits and sometimes do stuff based on the text I got (like play my personal music collection, or turn on my HTPC and tuner and set the inputs and turn on the projector). However, it looks like that's all quite possible now. There are about 150 Skills though, and I haven't waded through them all.
Hate replying to myself, but just enabled this "Skill": Alexa, ask the bartender, what's in a White Russian?
When you're drunk and making drinks, do you really want to go rooting around on your computer, or trying to find your bartender app?
If other people can't understand what you say, what chance does a computer have?
Worse than a person, not better.
And probably slower than typing.