Given the potential threat Artificial Intelligence poses to humanity am I the only one concerned that Samsung is in the game? Or are we safer having ViV in the hands of the company least likely to exploit it to its potential?
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Samsung Acquires Viv, the AI Assistant From the Creators of Siri
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Great silicone, great software (don't think I've heard any complaints on iOS 10). I think their good. AI on my phone is pretty good. Suggested apps and keyboard are #1 bar none.
Sweet. It's going to be on the new Notes. It'll speak to you and warn you when your phone is about to explode so you can toss it away.
Samsung has acquired Viv, the AI assistant co-founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham, who created Siri, which was acquired by Apple in 2010, reports TechCrunch. The trio left Apple in 2012 and founded Viv. Viv will continue to operate as an independent company.
Viv has enhanced contextual understanding thanks to "dynamic program generation," which means that Viv can understand the intent of a user's queries and self-code responses on the fly. Viv can understand context and stack multiple queries on top of each other. For instance, at TechCrunch's Disrupt NY event last year, Kittlaus was able to ask Viv whether it was raining in Seattle a couple days prior, following up with whether it'll be warmer than 70-degrees near Golden Gate Bridge after 5pm the day after tomorrow.
Kittlaus tells TechCrunch that the reason it sold to Samsung was ubiquity. The company ships 500 million devices a year, he explained, which gives Viv a large distribution network. On the other hand, the acquisition gives Samsung its own AI assistant that can go toe-to-toe with Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.
Samsung says that while the acquisition was done by its mobile team, the company sees the benefits to multiple product categories. "From our perspective and from the client's perspective, the interest and the power of this really comes from taking advantage of the Samsung scale overall, as well as the richness of the touch points we have with consumers." Viv's technology may eventually work its way into Samsung's non-mobile devices, like washing machines, refrigerators and TVs.
Advanced AI assistants have become a focus amongst Apple and its rivals recently. In May, it was reported that Apple was planning on introducing a next-gen natural language API in its rumored Amazon Echo competitor. The technology behind the API is the work of VocalIQ, a natural language outfit purchased by Apple in October 2015. The API has the ability to do "session-based" contextual responses similar to Viv.
Article Link: Samsung Acquires Viv, the AI Assistant From the Creators of Siri
Decisions like this are rarely solely about money. It's usually more about being offered a chance to do what you really wanted to do.
In this case, the attraction is that Samsung sells many types of consumer devices each year, from phones to computers to fridges to washing machines.
That's the "ubiquity" the Viv guy was talking about. Integrating them all with an intelligent assistant could be their dream.
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Such a pitty as they made the wrong choice when Myia does more than Viv providing conversational commerce and IOT orchestration as well not just a thin layer.
See here https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn1p75e6qor6g3m/IMG_7443.MP4?dl=0
See here https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn1p75e6qor6g3m/IMG_7443.MP4?dl=0
I was thinking the same thing. I watched their demo was was impressed … dynamic self coding is impressive. I was hoping apple had something on the back burner but nope
No kidding. I know it's blasphemous, but Google Assistant rocks compared to Siri. Yes, it's slower overall but way more accurate. I would give up a little speed for improved accuracy with Siri. Maybe Apple could ratchet up Siri's accuracy but add the option for a user to make a query and then add something like, "... and make it snappy" to speed her up if speed over accuracy is needed.
Hasn't Samsung already duplicated almost all stock Android apps? This might just be one of the few left. No wonder Samsung's phones are full of bloat.
I remember when Viv was announced months ago. Over time, this is going to be a huge contender. Siri has fallen behind and it's evident in her deciphering and understanding. Siri needs more than 'Brr, it's cold outside' to keep iPhone Users having something useful and proactive to their needs.
So are they going to call it "Samsung Siri"? Or will they maybe get a little more creative and go with something like "Sirisung" or "Sami"? Who knows, maybe they'll go completely wacky and choose another company for influence and call it "Samsung Now" or "Samsung Assistant". The possibilities are endless with Samsung.
Interesting... the AI competition may push forward some cool tech...
That said - Maybe they should aquire First Alert while they're at it lol
That said - Maybe they should aquire First Alert while they're at it lol
Demoing the technology is one thing. Ratcheting it up to work on a 500 million devices is quite another. Siri is quite impressive for how much work she is doing and the slow but steady improvements.
Boatload? How many devices per boat? Where are your sources? FAILReally??
Nearly every new OS release is bricking devices by the boatload.
Use Google Now/Assistance (guess on Assistant) and see how big the gap is. It's large.
