How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
Apple to Shutter 121-Person San Diego AI Team
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How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
Apple to Shutter 121-Person San Diego AI Team in Reorganization
Innovative Drug Design in the Age of AI with Sir Andrew Hopkins
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How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
On a rainy Tuesday in San Francisco, Apple executives took the stage in a crowded auditorium to unveil the fifth-generation iPhone. The phone, which looked identical to the previous version, had a new feature that the audience was soon buzzing about: Siri, a virtual assistant. That was 12 years ago.
Scott Forstall, then Apple’s head of software, pushed an iPhone button to summon Siri and prodded it with questions. At his request, Siri checked the time in Paris (“8:16 p.m.,” Siri replied), defined the word “mitosis” (“Cell division in which the nucleus divides into nuclei containing the same number of chromosomes,” it said) and pulled up a list of 14 highly rated Greek restaurants, five of them in Palo Alto, Calif. “I’ve been in the A.I. field for a long time, and this still blows me away,” Mr. Forstall said.
For Siri, seemingly simple updates, like adding some new phrases to the data set, would require rebuilding the entire database, which could take up to six weeks, Mr. Burkey said. Adding more complex features like new search tools could take nearly a year. That meant there was no path for Siri to become a creative assistant like ChatGPT, he said.
Alexa and Google Assistant relied on technology similar to Siri’s, but the companies struggled to generate meaningful revenue with the assistants, former managers at Amazon and Google said. (In contrast, Apple successfully used Siri to entice buyers to its iPhones.)
After Amazon released the Echo, a smart speaker powered by Alexa, in 2014, the company hoped the product would help it increase sales in its online store by enabling consumers to talk to Alexa to place orders, said a former Amazon leader involved with Alexa. But while people had fun playing with Alexa’s ability to answer weather prompts and set alarms, few asked Alexa to order items, he added.
The company also underinvested in creating an ecosystem for people to easily expand Alexa’s abilities, in the way that Apple had done with its App Store, which helped stoke interest in the iPhone, the person said. While Amazon offered a “skills” store to make Alexa control third-party accessories like light switches, it was difficult for people to find and set up skills for the speakers — unlike the friction-free experience of downloading mobile apps from app stores. “We never had that App Store moment for the assistants,” said Carolina Milanesi, a consumer technology analyst for the research firm Creative Strategies who was a consultant for Amazon.
Amazon’s misfires with Alexa may have led Google astray, said a former manager who worked on Google Assistant. Google engineers spent years experimenting with its assistant to mimic what Alexa could do, including designing smart speakers and voice-controlled tablet screens to control home accessories like thermostats and light switches. The company later integrated ads into those home products, which did not become a major source of revenue.
Over time, Google realized that most people used the voice assistant only for a limited number of simple tasks, such as starting timers and playing music, the former manager said. In 2020, when Prabhakar Raghavan, a Google executive, took over Google Assistant, his group refocused the virtual companion as a marquee feature for Android smartphones.
Apple declined to comment on Siri. Google said it was committed to providing a great virtual assistant to help people on their phones and inside their homes and cars….
By Brian X. Chen, Nico Grant and Karen Weise of The New York Times
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✅ Save 1000s of dollars by using ChatGPT to simplify complex problems
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Apple to Shutter 121-Person San Diego AI Team in Reorganization
Apple Inc. is shutting a 121-person team related to artificial intelligence operations in San Diego, leaving many employees at risk of termination, according to people familiar with the matter. The group, known as Data Operations Annotations, was told Wednesday that they would be relocating to Austin to merge with the Texas portion of the same team, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been announced.
The group, which also has offices in China, India, Ireland and Spain, is responsible for improving Siri by listening to queries to the voice service and determining if it heard and handled questions accurately.
The team has a notable history within Apple. Years ago, the group was mostly made up of contractors who listened to Siri queries to ensure their accuracy. That practice raised privacy concerns and was made optional for customers in 2019. The contractors ended up being fired and replaced with full-time employees.
A small number of employees in the group have begun assisting Apple with a move to AI products based on large language models, or LLMs. These employees are now reviewing potential queries to Siri and choosing among a handful of answers. They then have to explain their decision. Apple is planning to announce its LLM plans in June, according to Bloomberg News….
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Innovative Drug Design in the Age of AI
Conversation with Andrew Hopkins, Founder and Chief Executive of Exscientia PLC on Zoom. In a groundbreaking era for healthcare, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are redefining how we may design and develop drugs, treatments, and cures for a myriad of diseases that are at the root of human suffering.
At the forefront of this transformative shift is Andrew Hopkins, the founder and Chief Executive of Exscientia plc (Nasdaq: EXAI) and recently appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Science and to Innovation by His Majesty King Charles III.
As the company’s CEO, Andrew led the group who discovered the first AI-designed drug candidates to enter human clinical trials. Join this upcoming Zoom Meeting as Hopkins delves into the future of drug discovery and development, offering insights into the enormous impact AI may have on the design and development of innovative medical therapies and human health….
Enjoy! SBalley Team