It was in a Friends episode in the early 2000s that I first heard of the concept of people being able to talk back to machines, in an episode when Monica accidentally dials her boyfriend’s mother at his house.
When Apple launched Siri in 2011, in the midst of all round excitement, everyone began tapping the home screen, asking random questions, just to grin as the answers were delivered in a robot monotone. Google Now, Google's answer to Siri, was launched a couple of years later, and Amazon has joined the bandwagon with Alexa, a virtual assistant that exists without a screen.
Google has recently unveiled the Google Assistant, a chat bot that lets you do everything Google Now used to, from finding out the score of the latest game to setting an alarm to wake up at 6 in the morning. Are these virtual assistants really efficient at sorting out queries? Is it used by most people using these devices? What do people mostly use the virtual assistants for?
IT professional Mayank Shankar says, “I have had Siri on for almost four years on my Iphone and have not used it for anything beyond setting alarms or typing a message occasionally. It often does not understand what I am trying to say and this makes it tough for me to assign larger tasks. I think that once wearable technology makes its way to popular usage, virtual office assistants may be used more.”
Ad professional Siddharth S agrees, “I think everyone was really excited about virtual assistants when Siri was launched. The novelty was a major factor when Google launched Google Now as well. That is no longer the case. I would much prefer a chat interface that lets me delegate tasks than something that has me screaming over the phone to a machine that does not quite often understand my accent. I tend to use it only when I am not in a crowd. I feel stupid talking to my phone in public.”
Engineer Harish Singh does not agree. “I can dial anyone on my phone book by just shouting out the name on Google Now, find out the weather in my location and open the app of my choice without bothering to type anything or swipe through multiple screens. I find it as normal as googling to find out the results of the latest game.”
Using a voice assistant is a matter of convenience for bank official Ranjit Biswas. “I feel it makes things easier when you can just press the home button from the lock screen and command Siri to do a variety of things or look up something on Google or answer a question on something like Quora or search the web. Although you could download the apps and use it, it requires unlocking your phone, finding the app, tapping on it, waiting for it to load, and then performing your desired function either by typing or speaking. Being able to skip all that by holding the home button for a second and then speaking is much better.”
Creative Strategies, a company that tracks industry trends, conducted a number of studies on how consumers were using these virtual assistants and how they really feel about it. The studies revealed that 21 per cent of those surveyed never used Siri, 43 per cent never touched OK Google and 72 per cent have never asked Cortana(Microsoft) anything.
It also said that most consumers used it only during driving and those who never used a voice assistant were uncomfortable talking to their devices in public.
It does seem that as hands-free technology and wearables increase, home automation becomes more common and internet coverage becomes more widespread in India, voice assistants will become commonplace.
