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Business Insider

Apple’s Siri correctly answered more questions than Amazon.com’s Alexa or Microsoft Corp’s Cortana in a recent head-to-head test of smartphone-based digital assistants done by venture capital firm Loup Ventures.
Google Assistant, however, achieved the best record among the four digital assistants tested after it answered 86 per cent of 800 questions correctly.
In its annual digital assistant IQ test, Loup Ventures found that the four major smartphone-based digital assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon.com and Microsoft were getting better over time.
It also said all four digital assistants now understand the vast majority of people’s questions – it was just an issue of having the right answer.
Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home show accent bias, with Chinese and Spanish hardest to understand
“Both the voice recognition and natural language processing of digital assistants across the board has improved to the point where, within reason, they will understand everything you say to them,” the analysts at Loup Ventures wrote.
Apart from Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa were tested through their apps on an iPhone. Google’s Assistant was tested on the company’s own Android smartphone, the Pixel XL.
Technology giants around the world are racing to prove that artificial intelligence-powered digital assistants that can fully understand and hold a conversation with a human are a thing of the near future.
What Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant say if you ask if they’re spying on you
Voice-enabled shopping using digital assistants are also expected to gain more traction in the next few years. A survey conducted this year by OC&C Strategy Consultants said voice shopping in the United States was expected to jump to US$40 billion annually in 2022, up from US$2 billion at present.
“Voice computing is about removing friction,” the Loup Ventures analyst wrote. “One new feature that accomplishes that is continued conversation, which allows you to ask multiple questions without repeating the wake word each time.”
The Loup Ventures study showed that Siri answered 79 per cent of questions correctly. Alexa achieved a 61 per cent score, while Cortana recorded 52 per cent.
Listen to Google’s virtual assistant making a creepily lifelike phone call to a hair salon
The test’s 800 questions, designed to comprehensively examine a digital assistant’s ability and utility, were broken into five categories: local, commerce, navigation, information and command.
“We found Siri to be slightly more helpful and versatile (responding to more flexible language) in controlling your phone, smart home, and music,” the analysts wrote. “Apple, true to its roots, has ensured that Siri is capable with music on both mobile devices and smart speakers.”
Microsoft’s AI bot writes poetry, hosts a TV show and can converse like a human in Mandarin
The Loup Ventures analysts, however, said what gave the digital assistants the most trouble in the tests were proper nouns, like the name of a town or restaurant.
“With scores nearing 80 to 90 per cent, it begs the question, will these assistants eventually be able to answer everything you ask?” the analysts wrote. “The answer is probably not, but continued improvement will come from allowing more and more functions to be controlled by your voice.”


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Artificial intelligence

Google Assistant tops Apple Siri, Amazon’s Alexa in head-to-head test

In a test conducted by investment firm Loup Ventures, Google Assistant was able to answer the most questions correctly

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, announced at the company’s annual developers conference in May that Google Assistant will play an even more central role in the Google ecosystem. The artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant will support 30 different languages by the end of this year. Photo: Bloomberg

Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home show accent bias, with Chinese and Spanish hardest to understand

For people with strong accents, artificially intelligent speakers’ failure to understand can prove frustrating.

graphic 1

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Google co-founder Sergey Brin wears Google Glass glasses at an announcement for the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences at Genentech Hall on UCSF’s Mission Bay campus in San Francisco, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Google is giving more people a chance to pay $1,500 for a pair of the Internet-connected glasses that the company is touting as the next breakthrough in mobile computing. The product, dubbed "Google Glass," will be offered to "bold, creative individuals" selected as part of a contest announced Wednesday. Participants must live in the U.S. and submit an application of up to 50 words explaining what they would do with the Google Glass technology. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

** FILE** Google co-founders Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin are seen at their company's headquarters Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004, in Mountain View, Calif. Internet search engine leader Google Inc. filed its long-awaited IPO plans Thursday, setting the stage for the company to make its stock market debut, a move that could be months away. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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Microsoft’s AI bot writes poetry, hosts a TV show and can converse like a human in Mandarin

Technology giants around the world are racing to prove that duplex AI assistants that can fully understand and hold a conversation with a human are a thing of the near future

Conversational interface from Xiaolce. Photo: Handout

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In a test conducted by investment firm Loup Ventures, Google Assistant was able to answer the most questions correctly


Google Assistant tops Apple Siri, Amazon’s Alexa in head-to-head test

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In a test conducted by investment firm Loup Ventures, Google Assistant was able to answer the most questions correctly

In a test conducted by investment firm Loup Ventures, Google Assistant was able to answer the most questions correctly