Virtual assistant technology is rapidly spreading on smartphones and devices like Amazon’s Echo.
But Silicon Valley is taking note of a less mainstream product called Viv that comes from two of the men who dreamed up Siri, before it was bought by Apple.
Viv co-founder and CEO Dag Kittlaus joined “CBS This Morning” to discuss the new generation of virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence.
[protected-iframe id=”df0cc889bf6ef0dcd2cbe6985ff0a52f-17146794-18685410″ info=”http://www.cbsnews.com/common/video/cbsnews_video.swf” width=”590″ height=”368″]
Direct link to video here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s Siri is now poised to bloom.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s Siri digital assistant made Cortana look bad at WWDC – June 14, 2016
Can Apple’s Siri transition from ditz to key to the company’s future? – June 14, 2016
Powerful new Siri capabilities and single sign-on coming to Apple TV – June 13, 2016
Dag Kittlaus was on Charlie Rose on PBS last night as well. It was an in depth conversation about the VDA, virtual digital assistance realm of technology. He was entirely complementary toward Apple, which surprised me. He expects we won’t see any Viv available in the wild until 2017. It’s going to be open to developers similar to how Apple has made Siri open to developers.
They had a conversation about the state of speech-to-text. It struck me how the accuracy of speech-to-text today is no better than it was a decade ago. Dag pointed out, as many of us know, that it ends up working best when the user conforms to what the software understands, not so much vice versa. He also stated that Apple has their own ongoing speech-to-text development, which I never knew! He also stated that Google has their own as well. That’s new to me as well. I thought just about everyone was dependent on Dragon, by way of Nuance.
Were you surprised because you thought Kittlaus separated from Apple on bad terms after they pulled Siri’s arms off? Now we know that was all hot supposition from the peanut gallery. Instead there was the overarching issue of scaling, which necessitated dismantling the more “personal” parts. I remember being disappointed with the Apple-midwived Siri, after laboriously training the original Siri to understand my polyglot patter. But I understood what they were attempting, much the same as with their previous teardowns of other apps and services: pain now, glory in the afterlife. If anyone can upset the apple cart and get away with it, it’s Apple.
Were you surprised because you thought Kittlaus separated from Apple on bad terms…?
Yes indeed!
If anyone can upset the apple cart and get away with it, it’s Apple.
Ha! And yet Apple consistently has addle-headed vultures, rarely sated vultures, circling overhead. They invent impending death proclamations if only to convince themselves that their terror wings aren’t getting tired and the stomachs aren’t growling for real meat.
Someday I’d enjoy hearing your polyglot patter. I often amuse myself, doing the dishes or other boring stuff, chattering like my northwest London friends. Think Sharon Osborne. I used to crack up my ex.
A gruesome metaphor but an apt one. Carrion birds gather together in anticipation of the death of sick or injured prey. Alerted by chitter of doom and gloom, they await Apple’s last gasp. Funny, they seem never to tire of their circling… it’s as if savoury anticipation nourishes them better than decaying flesh.
Perhaps Apple fans have that in common with naysayers: anticipation is the juice to set us all salivating. But oh, what an astringent, hollow feeling when it wears off!
For the first time ever, I’m sickened by Apple today:
Apple CEO Cook to host Paul Ryan fundraiser as company tries to strengthen relationships with key Republicans
I feel sorry for the vultures that have to eat the carrion generated by this abominable alliance. Paul Ryan is the single most disturbing, psychopathic politician I have ever witnessed. #3 in line for the presidency. *Turning*Point*
Sorry to dump via reply. But it drastically changes my view of Apple and vultures.