(The title of this topic may have been a mixed metaphor too far…)
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Haha, well, I imagined this might be the case. Luckily our approach is different and doesn’t rely on your owning a iPhone. But good to keep on eye on this stuff.
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Siri is awful anyways.
I’d really like to foster a community that appreciates the work of those that came before us. Siri, and all systems like her, has limitations. Mycroft will have its own. However, without Siri, the recognition of the value of intelligent systems in day-to-day life would still be a pipe dream. How about, for just a moment, we talk about the value of each of these predecessors?
Siri
The first mass production intelligent assistant. Never before had an attempt to service 100M users with an intelligent agent been thought possible, and it is likely still on more devices than any other smart software in the world.
Siri reinvigorated interest in artificial intelligence research and development. The slew of startups in this space would’ve languished in a garage somewhere had Siri not proven the demand. Siri, and the people who created her, are pioneers in every sense.
Google Now
Launched without any of the fanfare of Siri, Google Now is an integral part of my daily life. By observing my behavior, it’s learned where I live and work, and offers up traffic times, weather reports, breaking news, and more. Google has invested heavily in this infrastructure, and the results they have published in deep learning are the bleeding edge of AI right now. Now has also shown us an entirely different perspective on what it means to have AI in our daily lives (passively vs actively).
Cortana
Cortana is a true MSFT spin on Siri: just make it useful for the enterprise. Things like “schedule a meeting with the localization team before the sprint ends” is impressive, if not useful to those of us tinkering in our garages and basements trying to get all our door locks voice controlled.
Microsoft Speech Recognition has been best in class for years, and the Kinect is the first mass-produced far-field recognition mic array I ever owned.
Amazon Echo/Alexa
Echo, with it’s limited launch and now countless set of features, has shown us what it means to build an extensible system. When talking about Mycroft, we talk about developers adding new skills. Alexa and her SDK give us incredible insight into the years of thought about voice controlled systems, how to build them, and how to extend them. We know that the success of Mycroft lies in the developers that build on top of the original design.
The Echo hardware also gave us the first hints of anthropomorphic design, with a light that follows the speaker like she’s glancing towards you. It wasn’t creepy, it was cool. That takes great consideration.
Wit.ai and API.ai
These services allowed developers to build fully-functional speech controlled apps for the first time, with next-to-no knowledge of the complexity beneath. It’s likely a lot of people in this community know and have used Wit or API.ai, and that may even be what got them excited about Mycroft.
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No matter what companies will always have a hard time going against giant corporations like Apple or Microsoft. Smaller companies need something that makes them stand out. I think in the case of MyCroft, the low cost and endless possibilities (thanks to the raspberry pi) is what is going to make it stand out from the rest. It is up to us as the community to create new and innovative uses for it in which we can show the world.
Biggest hurdle at this very moment, is that we dont have our MyCroft yet.
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