httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpjpVAB06O4&feature=player_embedded
Okay, so tomorrow, Apple’s going to announce iOS 5’s new feature, Assistant, which allows you to control your iPhone 4S using just your voice. Big deal, you might be thinking, somewhat sarcastically. But it is a big deal.
In fact, one of the co-founders of the company behind Apple’s Assistant technology says it’s no less than a “world-changing event.”
Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky has given an interview to 9to5Mac.
It’s a great read: Siri was bought out by Apple in April 2010, two months after their first app hit the App Store. Winarsky explains why the Assistant technology will require a minimum of an A5 processor and 1GB of RAM, but this is the real money quote:
Make no mistake: Apple’s ‘mainstreaming’ Artificial Intelligence in the form of a Virtual Personal Assistant is a groundbreaking event. I’d go so far as to say it is a World-Changing event. Right now a few people dabble in partial AI enabled apps like Google Voice Actions, Vlingo or Nuance Go. Siri was many iterations ahead of these technologies, or at least it was two years ago. This is REAL AI with REAL market use. If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language. The PAL will get things done and this is only the tip of the iceberg. We’re talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift.
Granted, he helped find the bloody company, but he’s probably right. Apple has revolutionized the way we interact with our computers three different times now. Is tonight the eve of the fourth major revolution?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
57 responses to “Just Like The Mouse, GUI And Touch, iOS 5’s Assistant Will Revolutionize The Way We Interact With Our Devices”
This is one of an intellectually dishonest nonsense I’ve ever read on this site… I don’t wanna start a flame war here but Android has had voice recognition for over a year and it works like a charm. So please be careful about using words like “revolutionize” or at least just attribute it to the dude who founded the damn company (Siri).Â
ugh.. one of the* most*…
Why should you be careful with the word revolutionise? That’s exactly what apple do. They take great ideas, simplify them and make them seem obvious.
The Personal Computer,
The Mouse.
The TouchPad.
The MP3 player,
The Clickwheel.
The Mobile Phone,
The Tablet.
The Touchscreen.
Voice recognition has been around for a long time, but as yet to really take off as a great platform to interact with our devices.
If this is “REAL AI”, what are the chances, of my iPhone becoming self-aware and trying to kill mankind?
Apple has also had voice recognition since the 3GS came out in 2009, and it also works rather well. However, in iPhones and other devices, voice recognition is sort of a gimped novelty that you use every now and then. Apple’s intention is to make the Assistant into something intelligent that people truly use to interact with their phones. It will be far more complex than telling it to open an app, write a sentence, or call a friend.
“…which lets you control your iPhone 4s…”
How can you say that so matter-of-factly when you don’t know what they’re announcing yet? No one does, it’s all speculation.
Good god. I’m just as excited for tomorrow’s announcement as the next Apple fan, but can we tone down the overblown hyperbole just a little bit?
I agree. Act like a really journalist and take out the “4S”.Â
It’s not about ticking a feature box. It’s about how actual users choose to use it… or not. As of right now, I cannot imagine talking to my phone at all (even though I can). If tomorrow’s event ‘revolutionises’ AI and speech, this will change.
Yeah but their voice recognition kind of sucked. It was limited to “call ___” and “Play songs by _____”. Android took it a step further by allowing users to send a text by speaking the name of the recipient and content of the message. Now it seems Apple will take THAT a step further.Â
In that regard, I wouldn’t call it “revolutionizing” but I would definitely give them credit for being progressive.Â
Not one to kindle a flame war either, but let’s wait and see what kind of voice integration it has before you claim Android has it. Android has voice search and some basic dictation, but not much else. Assistant is allegedly integrated at the OS level, helping you do much more than search or type.
You could alway just spend a little time away from the forums.. Or maybe just turn your PC off.. That way it doesn’t interfere with what the rest of us what to read.Â
There were MP3 players around before the iPod too, but now most people don’t know what an “MP3” player is so don’t underestimate Apple. And Androids voice recognition isn’t AI either. I’ve used Siri and it’s more than VR. So why not clam down a little?Â
don’t android and windows (phone) have this feature already…?
Apple has changed the world 3 or 4 times already. I don’t doubt it can do it again tomorrow.
10-1.
Yes voice recognition. But what about advanced Artificial Intelligence based on Pentagon technology? Can it talk back to you in a conversation to clarify exactly what you want? This is what’s widely expected. But until tomorrow no one knows for sure…
They do, to a degree (at least android, not a 100% sure about WP7), you can input text by speach for example, but they are nowhere near as advanced as siri was or like the iOS one is rumoured to be, it’s likely to be based of of siri as Apple bought them.
If it where to be “Real AI” it would depend on how supid the coders where and how good the safeguards and restrictions were…
However as it won’t be more real AI than any other AI currently in use, that is it just acts according to what it’s code tells it for specific circumstances, there is no actual “thinking” involved, as such it couldn’t possibly become self-aware…
Real AI? That’s not likely.
The speculations are a bit over the top now.
An el cheapo phone would be nice.
J.
Not likely. Â The problem with voice recognition is that you have to speak. Â Out loud. Â The advantage of the keyboard (virtual or otherwise) is that it doesn’t inherently tell everyone around you what you’re doing. Â I don’t really want people to know that I’m texting my girlfriend, spending a second at work looking up something that’s not work-related, or even just obsessing over the next iPhone release date while I’m sitting on a park bench.
Hey, guess what, iOS ALSO has voice recognition already. That’s not what this post is about, it’s about AI. Completely different. And they do  attribute it to the person who actually believes it will be revolutionary and world changing: the founder of Siri. So calm down a bit and wait for tomorrow to see exactly what Apple/Siri have up their sleeves.
“why the Assistant technology will require a minimum of an A5 processor and 1GB of RAM”
If Apple comes out and says that there is only one thing to say, Bullsh*t!!
Let’s think for a moment. The only way it would really need the new iPhones hardware is if it uses more than 300mb of ram which is what the iPhone 4 has free after a clean start with nothing but iOS running, that is just impossible, what would be needed in ram would be all graphical assets which would likely be 15MB at most, then there are the main code (code that is needed when you call upen the function just like the app switcher) which even if it’s a few thousand lines will only take up a few MB at most as it’s text.
When you use the app it will of course have to store a few seconds long recording so add a few MB there and then possibly some more code when analysing the input. All in all there is no way this could even take a 100MB to actually run…
As for the CPU well, there isnt much to say really, because of how iOS is built the active task get’s more or less all of the CPU time there are only so many things apps can really do in the background, none of which would take much CPU. If it can run on a dual core CPU at 1GHz it can of course run on a 1GHz single core CPU, sure things would probably be faster on the new CPU but there is no way it wouldn’t run
There is just no way that it would actually need the new hardware, if Apple says it does they are lying just to be able to give extra incentive for people to buy the new phone rather than the iPhone 4 which will be sold cheaper (or just not upgrade). They do this and I for one will end up losing a lot of respect for them… (and i will end up using the feature anyway when a jailbreak comes around for iOS5)
Well the deal here is that it’s supposed to be able to do a whole lot more than input text for you…
Yup, this is why this will never catch on in the same way…
I’d love to have the feature, would be great to be able to control the phone while in the car for example… But I’d probably not use it with people around, just like I never ask my phone for the time with people around :p
Apple just nuked Android with this. Game over.
Does nuked = copied???
we do you want to buy ipad 3 and iphone 5
ipad 3 now already shipped all you need is buy facebook fans now
PC ? Mac ;)
I like that. Fits.