Will MyCroft Compete with Best AI Assistants?

Had seen Mtcroef some time ago, in 2015, then also touting its Open Source.  Still has a long way to go to compete.   Will try to get a demo of it in context.  I think its unlikely the privacy issues will make a difference as they become patched.

Can an open-source AI take on Amazon and Google?
Mycroft certainly hopes so.

By Nicole Lee, @nicole in Engadget

It's only been a few years since Amazon unveiled the Alexa-powered Echo, but since then, smart speakers have become a major consumer-electronics category. Key to its success is the notion of the always-on virtual assistant, which other companies like Apple and Google have adopted as well. In fact, not only has Google made Assistant the driving force behind its Android smartphones, it has launched its own line of Echo rivals.

But underneath all of this technology is the potential risk to your privacy. In just the past few months, news reports have uncovered a series of alarming revelations that companies like Amazon, Google and even Apple have been listening in on conversations without permission. The data that they collect are also often stored indefinitely unless you explicitly delete it or turn off the recording ability. The companies have since responded that the listening of information only occurs to a small percentage of its customers and that the data are anonymized. While that may be true, it's disconcerting that none of this is transparent, and that the customer is rarely in complete control of their data.

An easy way to avoid this, of course, is to not partake in this technology at all. But a company based in Lawrence, Kansas, is working on an alternative solution: a virtual assistant aimed at preserving privacy and that's also open source. It's called Mycroft, and though you may not have heard of it, the company's been around since 2015.

"At the time, the only real voice technology that was in broad production was Siri," said Mycroft CEO and founder Joshua Montgomery to Engadget. Amazon had announced Alexa in November of 2014, but it was still in private beta when the idea for Mycroft came about. "We thought, you know, hey, this is the type of technology that could be really groundbreaking in the future. And scarcely a year later [in 2016], Amazon launched their Super Bowl ad, and then Google got in on the game, and suddenly it's the fastest-growing segment of the technology market."  .... "

MyCroft as an Open Kickstarter Assistant

This has tough competition, especially since the ecosystem is the big thing.

Mycroft II Provides Voice-Assist With Data Privacy  By David Cardinal in ExtremeTech

Mycroft Mark II: the Open Answer to Amazon and Google?

 ... is built on a framework of open source efforts, and funded through a Kickstarter campaign.  ...

 .... Given all this, I read with great interest the announcement of Mycroft Mark II. Mycroft itself is a voice-controlled speaker with a small display, and provides a window into the larger Mycroft ecosystem. Mycroft is built on a framework of open source efforts, and funded through a Kickstarter campaign. It is a follow-on to the initial version. .... 

I got a chance to use one of the very first working prototype units at CES this week. It has a lot of rough edges, so I expect it will be a while before it ships, but it did pretty well even in the hostile CES Eureka Park showcase (which is really noisy and has terrible Wi-Fi).   .... '

More on Mycroft Assistant

With considerable detail. Not available until December 2018

Finally, an A.I. voice assistant that doesn’t collect and monetize your data    By Luke Dormehl  in Digital Trends. ....  "

My full index of assistants, continually updated.

Mycroft: Better Privacy and Open Source Assistant

Wrote about Mycroft back in April 2016,  have been following.  Still says it won't be available until late 2018.   You do have to be careful about funding some of these efforts, there is always a considerable possibility it won't ship ever.  Better privacy and open source are good things, and would like to see an option out there that could be better tailor-able to those concerns.

Mycroft Mark II: The Open Source Answer to Amazon Echo and Google Home That Doesn’t Spy on You   By Abhishek Prakash

Meet Mycroft: An Open Source Virtual Assistant
Thankfully, we have an open source virtual assistant called Mycroft. It doesn’t violate your privacy, it is open and customizable. You can get the source code of Mycroft on GitHub.  .... "

My complete index of assistants.  Continually updated.

Open Source Mycroft Assistant

Mentioned this assistant before.  Now appears to be available.  First open source example.

An Open-Source (and Cute) Alternative to Amazon Echo

Mycroft’s voice-enabled assistant is embodied in the startup’s friendly looking Mark 1 gadget, but you can build it into all kinds of devices.
by Rachel Metz  May 29, 2017 Technology Review.

Mark 1 is no Amazon Echo: it looks like an ’80s clock radio mashed up with WALL-E, and speaks with a robotic, bass-heavy British accent. But the startup behind it, Mycroft, hopes it has similar appeal to hackers, students, and companies who want a voice-enabled assistant that they can run on all kinds of devices and alter at will.

When it comes to voice-enabled digital assistants, there are plenty of them available these days—in addition to the Echo, which runs Amazon’s Alexa assistant, there’s Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s assistant. None of these is open-source, though, so even if developers can use it on various devices (like Amazon’s Alexa), they can’t go under the hood and change its code—ostensibly, to help improve it.   .... " 

More coverage of many virtual assistants.

Mycroft Virtual Assistant Advances to Developers

Mycroft, an always listening virtual assistant:

An artificial Intelligence for everyone?

Challenging to Amazon Echo, Siri, Cortana ...

In Kickstarter development.

Their FAQ addresses some of the questions.

And Blog.

Apr 4, 2016  
Saturday was monumental. We shipped our very first Kickstarter Early Bird Hardware Dev Kit. These dev kits are the alpha Mycrofts ordered by the developers who are helping to make Mycroft a reality. (photo credit Zach Spears) We want to send a big  ... " 
..... 
Isn’t Mycroft just a clone of Amazon’s Echo?
Echo is a great product, but Mycroft has a lot of additional features. Mycroft doesn’t lock you into an “ecosystem”. The platform is open source, so you can access a wide variety of data sources. Mycroft also has more input and output options. It has USB, HDMI, RCA and access to the 40 pin Raspberry  Pi 2 GPIO bus. ... " 

Also an interview in Startland.

More Hearable AI: Mycroft

And how about Mycroft?  There seems to be a market for hearable/vocal channels to knowledge. and cognitive value. In the enterprise, such systems are likely to be attentive and advisory. I recall an example where a group of corporate experts were brought together to advise the CEO in an emergency. Challenge: What would a 'cog' or 'AI' that would also be invited to such a meeting look like? Capabilities?

Intelligent Personal Assistants

At today's CSIG meeting Jim Spohrer pointed us to the growth of the intelligent personal assistant,  aka VDA,  and that the Wikipedia article on the topic had a good list and links to work under underway.   The article contains much more.   The idea continues to grow.   Items marked with a * have been covered here.  Here is the list:

(This post is NOW continually updated with new links, hundreds of posts)

*Accenture's MyWizard'
*Accenture's Amelia
*Alibaba Tmall Genie
*Alibaba using AliGenie 
Braina
*Microsoft's 'Cortana'
*Microsoft's 'Invoke'  With Harman-Kardon Using Cortana
*Microsoft Home Hub
*Enterra Aila
*Amazon Echo
*Amazon Show   Amazon Echo with screen
*Google's 'Google Now'
HTC's 'Hidi'
Maluuba Inc's 'Maluuba'
*Cognitive Code's 'SILVIA'
*Cisco's Spark Conferencing Assistant
*Apple's 'Siri'
*Apple's HomePod
*IBM Watson Analytics
*IBM Watson Assistant
*Wolfram Finance
*Wolfram Alpha
Nuance's 'Vlingo'
*Samsung's 'S Voice'
*Samsung's Otto
*Samsung's Bixby  (S8 Phone Assistant)
*BlackBerry's 'BlackBerry Assistant'
*LG's 'Voice Mate'
*LG's Hub Robot
*Baidu's Duer.
*Baidu's Little Fish
*Pepper Retail Robot by Softbank
* Facebook M
*Mattel Aristotle by Nabi  (Baby Monitor)
*Jill Watson  - TA at Ga Tech
*Mycroft
*Kasisto Financial Assistant
*Kuri by Bosch
*Ginger by Intel  (unknown since its acquisition)
*Otto by Samsung
*Viv by Viv Labs
*Google Home   by Google
*Google Assistant by Google
*DingDong by LingLong
*Einstein by Salesforce (links to current collaboration with Oracle?)
*Project Evo by Microsoft
*Connie by Hilton/IBM
*Smart Assistant by Lenovo
*SoundHound for Hyundai
*Essential Home


See also Virtual Personal Assistants.  In Wikipedia.