The annual Worldwide Developers Conference hosted by Apple begins soon on June 13, as the company is expected to give at least one of a signature product keynote.
Expectations for the conference include Apple announcing the big news it has for Siri, the famous artificial intelligence assistant. A May report by Amir Efrati at The Information showed that he expected the new innovations to Siri to allow all those companies to make their apps and information rather attainable through the Siri assistant.
The move to open up Siri would be a big move for the company as they give Siri a bit of breathing space since they have tightly controlled the AI’s capabilities ever since its introduction. Some fee select third party information was available. Information and features such as Yelp restaurant reviews, and in some cases OpenTable bookings were always available through specific partnerships. But up to date, most of the iOS developers have not been granted access to the AI. Siri is present in every iPhone, iPad, the Apple Watch and also the latest Apple TV streaming box.
Opening up Siri is a move that Apple needs to do if they are going to be taken seriously. Voice controlled assistants have evolved to take on a more integral role in people’s lives especially in homes, in cars and even for simple things. Apple entered the AI field early back them with Siri, but after that the technology has evolved, and they now face tougher competition from Google and Amazon.
Amazon has the Alexa assistant, which was primarily built in the Echo speaker, and also is present in some other devices. It is said to be friendly to developers and is considered to be rather skillful as it can play Spotify music and also control numerous of some smart home devices. On top of that, it can call an Uber, and of course reorder Amazon purchases. At a recent conference, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO noted that more than a thousand people had their hands full on Alexa and Echo, which shows the amount of time, money and resources the company has been putting into it.
Google, on the other hand, has the Google Assistant software. The software was previewed at the recent I/O conference after revealing Google Home, which is still in development and is expected to rival Amazon Echo. Sundar Pichai, the new Google CEO, the company has made the AI business priority.
Each of these companies has their own pros and cons. But one has to stand out.
Apple is seen in some circles as the best at shipping complete and good to the eye products. Its control over the iPhone and many of its other devices make Siri a household name. But this mode of keeping things to itself might just be a wrong move, and the privacy stance might just lead to a weaker AI, which will not have that much user data.
Google, on the other hand, can count on its large user database. It has control of information on many of its users, therefore, can help itself in making better decisions. It has custom server chips and is the maker of Android. Android is the most used operating software in the world, even though Google does not control Android devices as much as Apple does iPhones.
Amazon has also created a killer product that is working wonders at this time. It is efficient in taking voice queries than Siri is. Amazon can also be said to be open to developers, which means it can help developers integrate their products into the services more and more.
So if Siri is to tackle the competition, in its quest to be the best assistant, then it all depends on how serious Apple is. And it’s a question which will be answered at the conference.
