Crystal Ball Time: What’s In Store for Voice Assistants by Samsung, Microsoft, and Facebook
This week in Conversational AI
Samsung Neon to premiere at CES 2020
Samsung has something cooking for the upcoming CES: the company’s STAR Labs ( Samsung Technology and Advanced Research) provided a sneak peek of mysterious AI technology, teased as Samsung Neon. Although very little has been said about the project, the company is going to unveil it at CES 2020. Samsung apparently encourages viewers to decode the teaser posters on Instagram, which show the shadow outlines of both male and female characters, as well as the Samsung Neon tagline in five different languages. Is the company preparing to replace Bixby?
More details on Facebook’s voice assistant surface
This was to be expected after the Portal launch, but the company is looking to end its reliance on Google’s Android operating system and is developing its own operating system, according to The Information stated. With all the talks about Facebook working on its own voice assistant, this new OS is likely to become the foundation for it.
Cortana to help sort through emails on the go
A newly discovered Microsoft patent demonstrates that Cortana will help users sort through emails and messages while on the go. The features include seeking out the most important bits of information from the inbox, summarizing them, and reading them to users in the most convenient way.
Amazon’s Alexa meets Broadway
“The Phantom of the Opera” has launched the first Broadway musical Alexa skill, which enables people to find and buy tickets for the play by voice alone. Users can ask Alexa to open “The Phantom of the Opera” and search for the tickets available on the desired day. Once they’ve chosen seats, they can pay for the tickets using the stored credit card on Amazon. The Alexa skill can also tell facts about the show and offer a trivia game.
