Why Google's virtual assistant won't tell you jokes
Google Now, the company's equivalent to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana, purposely avoids having any sort of personality, search executive Amit Singhal told Time's Victor Luckerson.
Singhal says that incorporating humor into voice assistants hints at artificial intelligence capabilities that just don't exist yet. He believes that it misleads users.
"I'm not saying personality shouldn't come, but the science to get that right doesn't fully exist," he says.
He then dropped a bit of a burn on Apple's Siri, which has a reputation for providing funny responses to questions like "Do you believe in God?" or "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"You've seen what happens in real life," he says. "That is interesting for a day or two, but then it kind of…loses its charm, let's say."
Singhal says that improving natural language processing is one of the big challenges to improving Now and Now On Tap - Google's companion service for Android phones which will scan users' screens to provide even more useful info. The better the virtual assistant can understand the meaning of a complex string of words, the better it can provide helpful answers.
To keep its search relevant in a world where people are increasingly looking for new, non-desktop ways to get information, Google sees expanding Now into more products that you use every day, like TVs or your refrigerator.
Read the rest of the interesting Time piece here.
NOW WATCH: Google's self-driving car has a huge problem
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- "To sit and talk in the box...!" Kohli's message to critics as RCB wrecks GT in IPL Match 45
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance