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Siri’s founders say their new AI assistant can make life a lot simpler for you

By Koh Wanzi - on 5 May 2016, 12:43pm

Siri’s founders say their new AI assistant can make life a lot simpler for you

Image Source: Viv Labs

Not long after Apple purchased Siri Inc – the company behind Apple’s sometimes quirky virtual assistant – in 2010, two of the latter firm’s founders left to start work on another AI assistant. The result was Viv, and it is turning out to be a far more ambitious project than Siri. While Siri lives mainly on Apple’s mobile devices, Viv’s goal is to be integrated into devices everywhere, including things like TVs, cars, and other connected devices.

Viv is something like Siri on steroids. You can speak to it just the same, but it can supposedly handle more complex requests and carry them out. The Washington Post had the chance to check out a demonstration first-hand, where a group of engineers working on Viv ordered four personalized pizzas without placing a single phone call, or doing much of anything at all. Everything was done through verbal instructions, and it is this sort of change in consumer behavior that has got everyone at Viv Labs so excited.

The idea is that you could just tell Viv to book a table for dinner and get movie tickets for after, and it would just go ahead and do it. In comparison, Siri would ask you questions at every step of the way, and even redirect you to dedicated apps to complete your bookings.

“It’s about taking the way that humans have naturally interacted with each other for thousands of years and applying that to the way they interact with services,” says Dag Kittlaus, one of the founders of Siri and now CEO of Viv Labs.

Ubiquity is the goal, says Viv Labs CEO Dag Kittlaus. (Image Source: Andrew Burton for The Washington Post)

All these services may just be a voice command away, but Viv Labs has had to partner with outside companies to make it all possible. Viv already has around 50 launch partners that are letting its AI tap into their services, including companies like GrubHub, Uber, Zocdoc, and SeatGuru.

In a sense, Viv is just part of the larger push toward more powerful virtual assistants on the part of tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is even an investor in Viv through Iconiq Capital, and both Google and Facebook have reportedly made offers to purchase the company.

Viv will have its first public demonstration at a major industry conference early next week, but only time will tell if AI voice assistants are the future, or if consumers will gravitate toward some other method that doesn’t involve conversation.

Source: The Washington Post

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