Technology analysis essay

The New Digital Mates

The world is growing more communicative, predictive and automated. The ubiquitous adoption of smart phones, combined by an exponential growth in communication activities across different social networking platforms, has all but made "smart" a watchword for an operating system embedded in a mobile device to perform different functions for humans, instead of humans. This collective interest in more automated services, enabled by a plethora of apps and platforms, is driven, primarily, by a handful of computing and Internet companies, now household names worldwide. If anything, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon are not only changing how human-machine communication interaction is carried out but, more importantly, are changing how people from all walks of life are opting for more automated, intelligent communications to perform different routine and routine functions. Put differently, artificial intelligence (AI) has come to assume a new life in different applications and platforms embedded in different mobile and desktop devices. By enabling users to get driving directions, make online purchases, mange house chores remotely or simply planning vacations, AI – as implemented in different apps developed by major computing and Internet companies – is opening up new horizons for radical usability modes which are becoming increasingly at odds with more conventional usability patterns. In order to better understand how AI-based apps and platforms are developing into completely different usability habits, a closer look is required at specific examples of AI apps and platforms. For current purposes, digital assistants (DAs) are discussed as new, emerging forms of AI, particularly in mobility apps developed by major computing and Internet companies. This paper aims, hence, to explore scope and potential of DAs as emerging, sophisticated forms of AI used in a broad range of mobile devices.

The growing popularity of Talking Apps developed by Google, Apple and Amazon brings up wide-ranging questions about inherent capabilities of smart devices and applications. Specifically, if performing an increasingly complex set of functions using cloud-based apps as popular as Siri, Google Now, Cortana and Amazon Echo (Muchmore) a lingua franca among millions of users, one is inclined to ask: What logic underlies all used – and, for that matter, in progress – apps to be not only as popular as is but also to be of unlimited promise? The answer can be found in AI.

If anything, AI has been a confusing concept for different generations of practitioners of different backgrounds. Conceptually, an AI system is defined as one which can communicate, has universal knowledge, can develop concrete situations into more concrete ones and is creative (Schank). These characteristics, broad as is, underlie rationales now applied to a plethora of applications enabling users to perform different functions in different contexts. Moreover, in developing an AI-based app, developers need to face common and almost perennial problems including, most notably for current purposes, inference, indexing, predication and recovery, dynamic modification, generalization and creativity (Schank). These problems are, if anything, ones which computing and Internet companies are attempting to solve by rolling out innovative apps to serve different functions.

For example, Viv Labs, a startup founded by former Apple veterans (Pogue), aims to enhance, via Siri, company's DA, services rolled out by Google and Apple. Specifically, as opposed to weather, driving directions and online shopping services offered by Google, Microsoft and Amazon – using Google Now, Cortana and Amazon Echo, respectively – parsing algorithms used in Google Now, Cortana and Amazon Echo to perform different search functions in more innovative and synergic ways. For example, Siri – now acquired by Apple – can answer queries as "Book me an appointment with a French-speaking optometrist whose office is on my way home from work" (Pogue). Broken down into constitutive functions, activities of "booking," and "my way home from work" (i.e. getting direction) as well as specific services at specific locations (i.e. "French-speaking optometrist whose office…") are now performed in one query effort using Siri instead of multiple queries – some of which might be well optimized and hence returning exact results and some might not and hence referring users to a search results page – performed in multiple steps by, probably, different apps. This combination of activities into one is, put differently, nothing but a simple example of AI enhancement across different service functions. The competition between developers is, accordingly, one aimed at combining AI-based services offered by cloud-based apps embedded, mainly, in mobile devices. There is no wonder apps such as Siri, Google Now, Cortana and Amazon Echo enjoy differential popularity among users based on specific functions each perform more or less effectively.

For example, Siri (by Apple), formerly limited to basic search functions, is now available across different operating systems, platforms and devices including, for instance, iOS 9, iPhones and iPads as well as Facebook’s Find Friends (Muchmore). This ubiquity is, of course, a reflection of further enhancements in human-machine interaction across different operating systems, platforms and devices, enhancements which could only be made piecemeal for one service in one device or platform at a time. Google Now is, primarily, a voice-based DA enabling users to perform search functions using voice protocols across different operating systems (e.g. Android and iOS) and in collaboration with numerous peer-to-peer accommodation and transportation services via third-party integrations. Cortana is probably most advanced of all AI-based apps. If anything, Cortana enables users to use voice protocols in more effective ways, combining Siri’s personality with Google Now’s predictive chops (Muchmore). Amazon Echo, equipped with a powerful mic, enables users to check regular services (e.g. weather) and make purchases, using a voice protocol, from Amazon.com. The list is, indeed, almost inexhaustive. Yet, what one can really infer from ever-developing AI-based applications and platforms is that DA, one sophisticated form of AI, are probably to not going to go away any time soon like many passing fads. Instead, DAs are more likely to be increasingly adopted to perform more complex functions as advancements are made on how DAs can help make human life more convenient.

To wrap up, DAs are one form of AI which offer much promise in human-machine interaction. By enabling voice and sensing functionalities in a plethora of mobile devices, DAs such as Siri, Google Now, Cortana and Amazon Echo are apt to radically change how routine and non-routine human functions are performed. The unfolding of current DA revolution is, in fact, a continuation of an old story of AI. By complementing, if not sometimes replacing, humans in performing different human activities, AI-based DAs are reshaping how humans choose to work, study, live and, for that matter, communicate. Indeed, of all functions performed by DAs, communication is probably most important one. In essence, all activities performed by users of all walks and across different platforms and devices center on communication. Thus, DAs can be viewed as enablers of effective communication between human users. The question of communication using DAs assumes more interesting dimensions when one accounts for different suability patterns of users of different generations. More research is required, accordingly, on how different users adopt DAs to enable human communication across different applications, platforms and devices.

Works Cited

Muchmore, Michael. "The Brave New World of Digital Assistants." PC, Oct. 2015, http://uk.pcmag.com/gallery/71434/pc-magazine-october-2015?p=2. Accessed. 13 October 2016.

Pogue, David. "Super Siri." Scientific American, vol. 313, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 31-31. Academic Search Premier, Accession Number: 108982349.

Schank, Roger C. "What Is AI, Anyway?" AI Magazine, vol. 8, no. 4, 1987, http://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/623/556. Accessed. 13 October 2016.