J river media center cortana11/9/2023 ![]() ![]() That data is limited, however, as M is so far available only to 10,000 people in the San Francisco Bay area.ĭespite M’s design, users frequently ask to hear jokes, a request the assistant obliges. The company hopes to gather data on users’ most frequent requests in order to improve M so it can handle them in the future. The Google app does reflect its creator’s spirit of curiosity, however, by sharing fun facts, Yehoshua said.įacebook has a team of human “trainers” behind M, who answer some requests that are beyond the capabilities of its artificial intelligence. The Google app, making use of predictive technology known as Google Now, responds to questions in a female voice but has few other gendered touches and little personality. “It’s very, very hard to have a computer be portrayed as a human,” said Tamar Yehoshua, vice president of mobile search. Google has decided it doesn’t want to take personality further without having a better handle on human emotion. “If you are emulating a human being,” he said, “then you are halfway into a human type of interaction.” Nevertheless, the Siri team concluded that personality was indispensable, said Gary Morgenthaler, an investor in Siri, the startup that created the eponymous assistant and was later acquired by Apple. And what charms one user can annoy another - a danger that Facebook and Google have largely sidestepped. Research from the late Stanford professor Clifford Nass, an expert on human-computer interaction, shows that users can become deeply invested in AI that seems human, though they are also more disappointed when the systems come up short, raising the stakes for companies that make the attempt. “That trusted assistant could function as my agent for all kinds of transactions and activities,” McIlwain said. Google’s digital assistant, for example, uses the company’s search engine to fulfill user requests for information rather than Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing. “We wanted M to be really open and able to do anything - a really white piece of paper - and see how people use it,” Alex Lebrun, a Facebook executive who oversees the AI team for M, said in an interview with Reuters.įor tech companies, the stakes are high, said Matt McIlwain, managing director of Madrona Venture Group, since digital assistants can guide users to their own products and those of their advertisers and partners - and away from those of competitors. ![]() While catchy one-liners generate buzz, a digital assistant with personality risks alienating users or, the companies say, misleading them about the software’s true purpose: carrying out simple tasks, much like a real-life assistant.įacebook’s no-nonsense assistant focuses on handling chores such as ordering flowers or making restaurant reservations. The design bears some resemblance to Google’s similarly impersonal assistant. Their elaborate personas are meant to keep users coming back.įacebook has built M with no gender, personality or voice. Siri and Cortana are waging charm offensives, both quick to crack a joke or tell a story. ![]() The information could be fodder for lucrative digital advertising or a lever for companies to keep users locked into their ecosystems.īut companies are split on the best way to forge deep connections with users. The more tech companies can get users to rely on their digital assistants, the more valuable data they will accumulate about the spending habits, interests and preferences of users. What’s your favorite drink?”Īs the tech giants race to build ever better artificial intelligence platforms, they are obsessing over the nuances of their digital assistants’ personalities.įor users, digital assistants are a gateway to powerful artificial intelligence tools developers expect to influence major decisions about what to buy and how to spend time. Her counterpart at Microsoft, Cortana, opts for a very, very dry martini.īut M, the digital assistant Facebook is testing, deflects the question. “I have a thirst for knowledge,” she responds. CEO Tim Cook talks about Siri during an Apple event in San Francisco, California March 7, 2012. ![]()
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