A virtual assistant is a voice program that responds to a person’s voice with his questions. Similar utilities have tried to create many well-known developers for their systems. Their overview with the main information about applications can be found in this article.
Pioneer
The famous Apple company was the first to create its own virtual assistant called Siri. It was created specifically for smartphones running the iOS operating system.
The utility perceives human speech well and gives answers to questions on the most popular categories in society. For example, you can ask her for advice on watching any programs on TV.
But its main drawback is the problem of synchronization with other programs and services. There are no interactions, and this is the main direction for developers as an assistant development.
A female voice is pleasant for hearing, but a full conversation with artificial intelligence will not succeed. Sometimes a wise answer may sound to some questions, but this is more an exception to the general rules.
Voice chat
The initiative to create virtual assistants was once seized by Google. They created their own utility, which works in the native browser from manufacturers, as well as on mobile platforms. Among its main advantages, one can respond with speed - you don’t have to wait for a long time.
It is recommended to use it when planning routes for travel, tourism and movement in an unknown area. The application always knows where it is better for the user to stay, and remembers the reserved tickets or places. Initially, the authors actively supported integration into other programs and services, but they suspended work in this direction.
The assistant also has a number of disadvantages, among which the inability to conduct a conversation. This application tries to offer the user a lot of diverse information. Often the results of sports games, news and other things appear on the screen, which some people may not like too much. This is exactly the case when the initiative is not too encouraged.
Yandex Initiative
Yandex's virtual assistant was not a surprise for everyone, because the main competitor among search engines launched its utility a long time ago. Her name is "Alice", and developers often attract different stars to the voice acting.
Among the main tasks to be accomplished, it is possible to draw routes bypassing traffic jams, weather reports, displaying addresses of necessary establishments and currency conversion. Using the Yandex virtual assistant, you can perform standard voice search. Communication with some applications has been established, but their list is not too large.
The main advantage of "Alice" is the ability to conduct a lively conversation. The utility was provided with a huge amount of text, and its answers can be funny or even taunting. Sometimes the application demonstrates erudition in various industries, including music. The program focuses on users of the search engine of the same name and was made in order to stay updated on all the new products.
Latest technology
Unlike Alice’s virtual assistant, Facebook M is trying to do whatever the user asks for in the social network environment. At the moment, it is managed by half the people, and on the other - by artificial intelligence, which was developed inside the world famous company.
This project can be considered experimental, because it was launched only for a limited number of users. It deserves attention because it can set a new level of technological development. If the authors succeed in realizing their plan, then other companies will be left far behind, although even a lot of time should pass before this point. Developers attract people to work this system, so that the built-in intelligence learns the necessary actions. It is because of this that the level of humanity of the system should be at the maximum level.
At the moment, work is underway to improve the assistant, and tests are conducted on a limited number of users in San Francisco.
Another worthy assistant
If you ask what is the best virtual assistant in terms of human qualities in artificial intelligence, then the leader will be Cortana. Microsoft decided not to be left behind and created its own utility in this direction.
Among its main functions are managing reminders, searching in the Bing system, weather forecasts, providing a variety of information. Also, the application may interact with some applications of the Windows operating system, but this is also the main problem. Due to the speed on platforms with the native OS, the speed of work on smartphones is greatly reduced.
This virtual assistant loves to joke and responds well to user’s fun offers. The application provided a huge number of answers to all occasions, which makes working with it more interesting. These assistants are the most famous in the world, although there are a number of similar programs from other authors.