Whether it’s at home, in the car, on the go, or even at work, the mass adoption of virtual assistants has seen consumer AI integrated into a growing range of everyday applications for users all over the world. And while it still remains uncertain about whether or not our AI-powered partners can love us back, the evolution of virtual assistants is on track to see them further embedded in our every action.
Adam Cheyer, CTO of Vivo Labs, Samsung Electronics, shed light on this trend in a recent blog post outlining the current state of virtual assistants and offering predictions on what’s next for the smart tech in 2019.
Seamless user experience is a big concern in this area. With multiple popular virtual assistants available on the market, each comes with own specific set of commands, and this poses a challenge for third party developers. “As a user, I want one Assistant who can do 50,000 things, not 50,000 different Assistants who each have their own very different experience, memories, and so forth,” writes Cheyer, who expects the need to follow a command formula when interacting with AI to become a thing of the past.
The post goes on to explain how developers will soon be able to have access more effective tools and platforms enabled by rich natural language understanding, machine learning, support for multiple devices and accessibility features like multi-language recognition. The most advanced of these developer’ tools, according to Cheyer, “will feature AI-created code generation, allowing developers to more quickly handle a wide array of use cases with less code to write and maintain.”
We’re still a long way from a virtual assistant who can do your laundry or take the dog for a walk. But Cheyer points to a future where Assistants expand their capabilities beyond sending text messages or answering queries, and move into performing tasks on the user’s behalf through integrated payment systems and Internet standards like OAuth.
Without being brought to an outside website or app, assistants will enable us to perform end-to-end transactions like making credit card payments, purchasing movie tickets, sending gift baskets, and more.
The above functions could also possibly all be done while on the road, with smart virtual assistants becoming more prevalent when it comes to automotive applications. More hands and eye-free interaction experiences will be offered by virtual assistants while behind the wheel, suggests Cheyer.
Given the wide range of advancements for virtual assistants in the past year, and the continued adoption of the technology in smartphones, smart homes and the connected car market, it’s no doubt there’s more in store for our AI companions.
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