In-Car Assistants for Hyundai, Kia

More indication that the new year will feature automotive assistance, with increasing sophistication as to automotive context.   Will be testing.

Hyundai and Kia will offer AI assistants in 2019 cars
You'll see the first hints of it in early 2018.

Jon Fingas, @jonfingasin in Engadget

Hyundai and Kia both have reputations as early adopters of in-car tech, and that's truer than ever now that voice assistants are becoming a practical reality on the road. The Korean automakers have revealed that they plan to include AI assistants in their new cars starting from 2019, with every vehicle being 'connected' by 2025. As Hyundai explained, they've been working with SoundHound to create an Intelligent Personal Agent (based on Houndify) that both makes proactive suggestions (such as reminding you of a meeting) and offers remote control of both your car and your home.

This sounds a whole lot like what other voice assistants do, but the car brands are counting on support for "multiple-command recognition" as the ace up their sleeve. If you tell your car to check the weather and turn on the lights at the same time, it'll do both instead of scratching its head like so many other AI helpers.  .... " 

Index of my work on assistants.

Customized Digital Boosting

Assistants are rising,  but we have not yet figured out full how to usefully collaborate with them

How Digital Media Will Bring Out Our Best Selves in the Workplace
by Michael Schrage

Tomorrow’s most effective individuals will combine their personal capabilities with customized digital boosters.

Technology now touches and transforms every aspect of personal productivity in the workplace. Mobile devices, bots, and digital assistants are ubiquitous, while managers increasingly use key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards to monitor and measure employee performance. In industry after global industry, effectively collaborating with technology is as important as effectively collaborating with people.  ... "

An Initial Look at Samsung Bixby

The plan is to include the assistant they call Bixby on other Samsung appliances.  Also its not the same thing as 'S Voice', which had been announced earlier.  Notable capabilities are translation, image recognition,  learning about users, voice commands ....  Another move towards universally available advisors.  ...  "

5 things the Samsung Galaxy S8's Bixby artificial intelligence service will do

When you press the dedicated Bixby button on the Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones, there will be a handful of cool features you can access.  .... By Agam Shah

Links to all my posts on intelligent personal assistants. 

More on Samsung Bixby Assistants

With backstory, and an indication of Samsung's considerable investment into AI.   Plus integration into more devices.  Seems a competitive position as advisory and smart home leverage.  Worth following.

Galaxy S8 and beyond: Samsung bets big on Bixby's AI
The digital voice assistant will debut soon on Samsung's next flagship phone, and the company plans to quickly add it to more products.  ... " 

And more on Bixby capabilities.    

My List and survey of personal assistants.

Samsung Unveils Bixby as Assistant

Another new virtual advisor emerges,  it seems  now just for the S8 phone and competing with Siri.  and Google Assistant.  Can we also expect this on TVs and addressing the Smart Home and other appliances?   Is likely.   Description positions it in an interesting way,   In Engadget: 

" ... It was only a matter of time until Samsung launched a full-fledged virtual assistant of its very own -- "S Voice" just never quite cut it. Today the company unveiled Bixby, a new assistant that'll debut with the Galaxy S8 on March 29th. Naturally, it's meant to help Samsung differentiate itself from Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant. Bixby seems different on a conceptual level: It's meant to serve as a new voice-based interface for controlling your apps, rather than just something that you can ask a few questions.

"Instead of humans learning how the machine interacts with the world (a reflection of the abilities of designers), it is the machine that needs to learn and adapt to us," Samsung senior vice president InJong Rhee wrote in a blog post. "The interface must be natural and intuitive enough to flatten the learning curve regardless of the number of functions being added. With this new approach, Samsung has employed artificial intelligence, reinforcing deep learning concepts to the core of our user interface designs."  ,,,, "  

Google Assistant Comes to Android Phones

The battle of the assistants extends.  Google Assistant to come to Android phones and then beyond.  In Computerworld: 

Rebecca Linke: OK Google, when will my phone get Google Assistant?
Google is bringing Assistant to more Android phones starting this week. Will your device be one of them?   For many Android users, very soon. Google will start rolling out its virtual assistant as early as this week for some people -- but the update isn't coming to everyone. So will you be one of the lucky ones? ... 

Starting this week, Google is bringing Google Assistant to all Android phones running Android 7.0 Nougat and 6.0 Marshmallow...it [will] arrive automatically on your phone through the latest Google Play Services update. The rollout may take some time, but many of you are about to gain access to Google Assistant very soon. ... 

Great! Remind us exactly what Google Assistant is again? Aloysius Low has the details:

Google Assistant lets you talk to your phone in a conversational way, providing answers to questions about the weather, flight information and appointments. The assistant can even control your smart home...Besides smartphones, Assistant is already available on the Google Home smart speaker, Android Wear 2.0 devices, and will soon come to TVs and cars. ... " 

Whats Next for Home Assistants?

Good thoughts, especially linking to email and phone calls. I would add also better ways to support ongoing learning and tracking of conversations.   Also the ability to differentiate and personalize conversations between different members of a household.  Agree that skills are not used, because real value there is rare.  Still awaiting a skill that saves me significant time,  and that the assistant could suggest for me after observing my behavior.

What’s Next for AI Home Assistants?  In Technology Review. 
Phone calls, wider integration, and even screens could make our new domestic butlers more useful. by Jamie Condliffe  February 16, 2017

Predictions about AI Assistants

Some reasonable thoughts about near time directions.  Who will really want to own the space?  What will it take to do that?  Deeper AI is still some time away, so near time, focused, lesser investments can get considerable results.  What will it take to really impress and engage the consumer?  Playing music with a simple voice interface has done quite well so far.  In VentureBeat: 

5 predictions about Alexa, Cortana, and other AI assistants   by Khari Johnson

The Last User Interface? Towards Intelligent Generalization.

Nicely put piece I just reread..  A good look at why Google should win the the voice assistant interface.  By being able to efficiently figure out what we need, based on our personal and processional needs, and previous conversations.  By directing you to the right focused bot to solve your problem.  Doesn't mean Google will win.  Its not winning yet.  Focused applications can still excel, and generalization will be harder than we think.

Why Google A.I. is the last user interface
There's no question that A.I. is the next UI. The question is: Whose A.I.?  .... 
 By Mike Elgan  |   Contributing Columnist, Computerworld  ... '

AI in the Everyday Enterprise

Always interested in how AI will be inserted into the enterprise.  We made early, simplistic attempts that were highly focused, very successful at times, but not integrated into common tasks.  How will this change in the near future?   Clear need is to integrate with corporate data and knowledge structure.   Make the system easy to maintain.   Related CWorld Opinion:

From presentation to conversation: How A.I. will transform enterprise apps  Apps will soon shift from dumb repositories to deft assistants. .... 

" .... In the second stage, A.I. identifies valuable tasks and pushes notifications to users suggesting they take action. For a recent example, a medical benefits management company had A.I. evaluate claims before any human intervention, approving those that were clearly appropriate. The tricky claims are pushed to nurses and doctors for further review. With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, at this stage the message is the medium, not the app’s presentation layer.

Whether it’s email or a rich messaging platform like Slack, the notification serves as a gateway deep into the presentation layer of the app that generated it. A churn alert links directly to the affected customer -- you no longer navigate down to that user from the app’s landing page. And recipients can even directly take action within the message itself as part of micro flow. The app is still the system of record, but its presentation layer is no longer the entry point for many user tasks. .... " 

Alexa Anywhere

A set of headphones lets you talk to Amazon echo anywhere.  Not sure why I might want to do this, but might have a hands-free business application.  Does add to the long list of enablements we are seeing.

China Doubling Down on AI

Have been in particular following their assistant and chatbot work, impressive so far.    Further indications that work is ongoing in augmented reality.  In Technology Review:

In 2017, China Is Doubling Down on AI
The country’s Internet giants are focusing on AI research, and domestic venture capital funding is pouring into the field.   by Jamie Condliffe    

This year, China looks set to make larger waves than ever in artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

The nation’s search giant, Baidu, is leading the charge. Already making serious headway in AI research, it has now announced that former Microsoft executive Qi Lu will take over as its chief operating officer. Lu ran the applications and services division at Microsoft, but, according to the Verge, a large part of his remit was developing strategies for artificial intelligence and chatbots. In a statement, Baidu cites hiring Lu as part of its plan to become a “global leader in AI.”

Meanwhile, Baidu’s chief scientist, Andrew Ng, has announced that the company is opening a new augmented reality lab in Beijing. Baidu has already made progress in AR, using  computer vision and deep learning to add an extra layer to the real world for millions of people. But the new plans aim to use a 55-strong lab to increase revenue by building AR marketing tools—though it’s thought that the company will also consider health-care and education applications in the future. .... " 

Baidu's Little Fish Assistant

In Yahoo News: 

Las Vegas (AFP) - Chinese internet colossus Baidu is out to make a splash with 'Little Fish,' a family robot that is a voice-controlled virtual valet akin to Amazon Echo or Google Home.

Baidu showed off "Little Fish," a translation of its Chinese name "Xiaoyu Zaijia," on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas ahead of its release in China later this year.

"I think 2017 will be the year of conversational computing," Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng said while demonstrating Little Fish for AFP behind closed doors at the show.

"We see a clear path of conversational computers changing everything." .... ' 

LG Announces Hub Robot Assistant

Note this uses Alexa's Voice recognition.  Another embedding example.  Article includes video.  Note the claimed use of facial recognition to differentiate household members.  This is unique. In Mashable: 

LG's new robot helpers are cute and friendly AF   by Karissa Bell
The Korean company showcased two Hub Robots, an Airport Guide Robot and an airport cleaning robot at CES Wednesday.

Sort of like a robot butler, the Hub Robot can control your Wi-Fi connected appliances, so it can preheat your oven and tell you when your food is done. ... Also available in a smaller "Mini" version, the Hub Robot has an interactive display that shows information about what it's doing, like checking the weather or starting your next load of laundry.

It uses Amazon's Alexa voice recognition technology to listen to commands and has facial recognition abilities to distinguish between different members of the household. 

The robot is also trained to use simple body language like nodding when answering questions and keeps track of when people enter and leave the house. ... LG didn't announce pricing or availability for the Hub Robot, so no word on when we might actually see it in homes. .... " 

List of assistants covered.

Link to My Personal Assistant Studies

As a part of a broader AI study I have been examining how personal assistants can interact with deeper AI, and what architecture will best support their further development.  To provide services for individuals or business, based on interactive conversations.  The topic has often covered in this blog. I have just cross referenced a number of assistants I have looked at here.  I welcome any additional examples, information about or thoughts you may have.  Contact me.

Lenovo Launches Smart Assistant

Yet another smart speaker plus idea, reported in Business Insider.  The dynamic of integrating the brain of Alexa into many devices is interesting.   I am worried that the architecture of Alexa will not be good enough to launch the levels of intelligence we will ultimately expect.   I would expect that development from Google.   Expected to be available in May:

" ... Lenovo just launched an Amazon Echo clone that also uses Alexa — but costs $50 less
The runaway success of the Amazon Echo has shown that people are willing to accept some device built around a digital assistant into their lives, and now the rest of tech world is scrambling to get a piece of the smart speaker pie.

Google last year rolled out the Google Home, while Apple is reportedly putting Siri in a forthcoming speaker of its own.

Chinese tech company Lenovo doesn’t have an AI system along the lines of Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, but as a relatively prominent hardware maker, it wants in all the same. And so, Lenovo on Tuesday launched the Lenovo Smart Assistant, an Echo-like speaker in both form and function, at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.

Lenovo says it worked with Amazon for the Smart Assistant; as such, the device relies on Alexa for its smarts. Like the Echo, you simply yell out whatever questions or commands you want to Lenovo's speaker, and Alexa will tap into the same set of “Skills” to help where it can. ..... " 

List of personal assistants studied.

Hilton Builds Connie Assistant with Watson

More hotel chains thinking about the usefulness of virtual assistants.   Notably includes Watson, and using conversation via a humanoid bot called Nao, and a Watson driven system called Wayblazer.   Must such bots be humanoid?  The model of a concierge is used.

In TNW: 
" ... Earlier this year, Hilton started a test with a concierge robot for its chain of hotels in the US. ...  The project is based on a partnership with IBM’s Watson program.

The robot – named Connie, after the hotel’s founder Conrad Hilton – is available to answer questions from customers. Connie knows everything about the hotel, neighborhood restaurants, tourist attractions, and so on. ... " 

See my list of assistants being investigated.

(Update) Microsoft's Project Evo in Your Home

 It seemed at first that Microsoft would not respond, now indications that the competition will begin.  This seems contrary to other reports that Microsoft is emphasizing their assistant technology, Cortana, only in systems with screens.

Tech's Biggest Showdown is unfolding in your living room by Cade Metz.
  Microsoft is joining Google and Amazon in the race for your home. This week, at an event in China, the venerable tech giant trumpeted the arrival of Project Evo, a sweeping plan to build hardware devices that work a lot like Google Home or the Amazon Echo. ... " 

Digital Assistants Changing Us

A pretty old and general argument.  Our servants, games, machines, media, conveniences, advertising will fundamentally change us.   Now is this entirely new?   In Wired.

Do Smart Speakers Need a Screen?

The rash of smart speakers and voice drive smart home control systems continues.    But using them with advanced features, like recipe systems,  or searches that could be augmented with pictures or diagrams, seem to beg for an integrated screen.   But does this just make them another dedicated kitchen laptop?  We have seen a number of such specialized counter devices come and go, tested several in the lab. None survived. Or should they be retained with the simplicity of just voice?  Perhaps with a way to easily cast screens?   Discussed in Retailwire, prompted by a rumor that a premium version of the Amazon Echo will include a screen.