Viv - A New Virtual Assistant With Artificial Intelligence From The Makers of Siri
Upon the release of iPhone 4S in October 2011, the spotlight was not about the new phones specs like about its A5 chip or its enhanced camera. Instead, the spotlight was centered to the new personal digital assistant that was introduced by Apple named Siri. It endowed a female human voice and it seems like it understands and responds to tasks that the user commands.
Siri is an intelligent assistant equipped with a female voice that understands user commands and responds to various requests. Siri can access the smartphone's calendar, contact and reminders and is therefore able to notify and do simple tasks for the user. However, Siri's capabilities have certain limitations, which is why some of its former developers are coming up with a new artificial intelligence, AI, called Viv.
According to Wired, some of the makers of Siri is now part of Viv Labs, which is now creating an AI that can process more complicated commands, far beyond Siri's capabilities. Viv Labs is founded by Siri Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer, and Chris Brigham.
The name "Viv" comes from the Latin root word that means "live." The Viv Labs team aims to create a personal assistant that can learn to do things by itself. On Wired, Kittlaus claims that the end result will be a digital assistant that knows what a user wants before it is asked. In the report, Kittlaus cited a scenario where one would simply tell Viv that he's drunk and the digital assistant would automatically call up the user's preferred car service to fetch the drunk owner of the device from where he is and get him home safely. "No further consciousness required." According to Wired, the makers of Siri are confident that its next creation will eclipse the first, but there are no announcements yet regarding the launch of the new AI.
Business Insider reports that while Viv Labs' technology seems impressive, its rivals such as Google, Microsoft and Apple are also working on improvements of their virtual assistants. According to Business Insider, Microsoft will come out with Cortana on Windows 8.1, while Apple is looking to make significant improvements to Siri. Google, on the other hand, has "Google Now," its new Android wearable device that gives user "contextual information at a glance."
