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Digital Assistants
Introduction:
As life becomes more complicated and the human potential expands alongside technological capabilities,
an emergence of digital assistants has sprung about to simplify our lives. The digital assistant is
essentially a personal assistant, either located at your fingertips or within yelling distance. Any questions,
scheduling needs, phone calls, etc. that an average person may have, can be handled by a digital
assistant. This idea is taking off, and being developed into numerous applications by brands like Amazon,
Google, Apple, and even Android providers like Samsung.

Orientation:
Digital Assistants are growing in popularity but have not yet become a common household appliance.
Although the digital assistant is a new idea, the concept of a personal assistant has existed for millennia.
Everyone would like a little extra help with decisions and tasks, and that is what this technology was
created for. They differ by each brand, but the capabilities are quite similar. Digital assistants serve a need
to simplify life and make everyday chores or tasks easier for the user. They are also quite novel because
they feel like an introduction to artificial intelligence in the home. Additionally, these assistants provide a
form of entertainment to families, and since they are speakers they can play music or audio recordings
from them.

Figure 1, Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple Siri Application, and Android Corzana Application in order left to right

How it Works:
The basic function of a digital assistant begins when you either call the assistant by its wake-word, for
example Alexa! or Hey, Siri!, or enable the assistant by touch (Ziptopia.com). When you command your
assistant to do something for you, and she responds, you are communicating with a cloud-based server
(Ziptopia.com), however real the conversation may seem. Different words and commands generate
various responses and it is all algorithmic in nature, although most of the big-name digital assistants
communicate fluidly.

Once you have the attention of the device, it picks up the different words in your sentence to generate a
response. The capabilities of a digital assistant are quite extensive. They can be used to order food from
restaurants or online sites, schedule a cab for you, issue responses on your phone, craft texts, and
schedule appointments. If you missed the game last night you can ask your assistant for an update on the
score or significant recaps. If you are stuck inside the office, your assistant can give you a weather update.
And if you need ideas about what to cook for the family, your assistant can generate numerous ideas. The
more that an assistant is utilized, the more she learns. For reference, I refer to assistants as female
because up to this point, all the popular assistants, besides Google, on the market are female; Siri, Alexa
and Cortana are all female names.

An interesting aspect of these devices is that they are learning- a true quality of artificial intelligence.
According to Techtarget.com, part of the definition of a digital assistant is that it uses sophisticated
algorithms to learn from data input and become better at predicting the end user's needs. This capability
is exciting, but as with any learning technology, there are critics. The idea that your assistant is always
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listening, waiting for her wake-word, is necessary to notice requests, but can be unsettling for those who
fear potentially invasive technology.

Timeline: Voice Recognition and Digital Assistant Development

1937 1952 1962 1980's

Homer Dudley Bell Labs IBM unveils the Tangora is
invents the Voder, introduces the Shoebox, can developed by IBM
first machine to Audrey, the first interpret a total of with a vocabulary
synthesize speech technology to 16 words of several
recognize speech thousand words in
(only digits) total

1996 2007 2011 2014

MedSpeak by IBM Microsoft Apple introduces The first Amazon
is introduced; able introduces the SIri Echo comes to
to pick up lines of Windows Vista, application, our market,
speech, not just which can first example of a introducing the
words. recognize speech digital assistant speaker-enabled
digital assistant.

Current Situation:
Digital Assistants have been on the market for about two and a half years now, but have not reached full
market penetration and common household adoption. Americans have seen the digital assistant develop
from a quirky phone application, Siri, into a very diverse collection of numerous brands and capabilites.
Currently, the Amazon Echo is leading in market share of digital assistants, but as other brands perfect
their technology, we may see this change. It is rumored that Apple is going to release its own digitial
assistant speaker, enabling Siri to have her own home.

Another major current development we have seen is the movement to mutliple platforms, no longer
confuned to just a smart phone (USAToday.com). They have developed into an all-encompassing
ecosystem.

Stage of Development~ Digital assistants are deep into the stages of development, with several
available models and increasing capabilities. They have currently entered a stage only technology
considered artificial intelligence can enter; these devices exist and now are learning from their users.

Stakeholder Involvement~ Since the fab four of digital assistants, a term used by Edward C. Baig of
USA Today, are Siri, Cortana, Google, or Alexa, there are significant capital investments being made
around digital assistants. These four are tech giants and the hype is great around the idea of these
products. As the world we live in has increasing possibilities, humans have a lot more to do, keep track of,
and pursue in their lifetimes. The digital personal assistant streamlines numerous pieces of information
and makes it readily accessible to consumers. Additionally, international consumers of technology are
willing to pay a high premium for simplicity and assistance, making this innovation important to the
millennial generation and even above.
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Next Steps~ The next step will be for Apple to develop a speaker that can be utilized alongside their
other products, something that is rumored to be in the making. A common issue voiced by Apple users is
that the Echo and Google Home mostly don't support services from Apple, and that's frustrating, an
opinion voiced by Mike Julianelle, a popular tech blogger. I think it is a natural step for the industry
dynamics to see a Siri speaker come to market.

Another step is going to be simply further consumer implementation. As prices drop for the speaker
digital assistants, we will see a fuller market penetration. As of today, they are no longer novelties, but
cannot be considered common either. It is expected that the number of users who interact with virtual
digital assistants will grow from 390 million currently, to 1.8 billion globally by the year 2021
(globalnewswire.com).

Potential Issues:
A current issue is incapability across platforms. It has already been voiced by Apple fans that they have
issues with the fact that other brands of assistants refuse to interact with their numerous Apple devices.
This is true for other brands too. It is difficult and at times impossible to integrate devices across different
tech brands. This platform issue becomes a barricade for those looking to seamlessly connect their
network of devices.

Another potential issue, if integration does come about, is that the assistants could completely devalue
the platforms they run on, according to Bob ODonnell of recode.net. This concept can best be explained
by another quote by ODonnell, explaining If I can use, say, Alexa across an iPhone, a Windows PC, my
smart home components and a future connected car, where does the unique value of iOS or Windows 10
go?. The extreme interconnectedness of a meta-platform could obsolesce distinct platforms, an
interesting idea, and perhaps the motivator behind the current problem I discussed in the prior
paragraph.

Lessons and Best Practices:

Digital assistants are another disruptive step towards complete user envelopment into a digital
ecosystem. It was a very smart move for tech giants to develop this market because the consumers they
serve are constantly looking for transformative, simplifying devices. It was a strategic decision to begin
assistants in the realm of smart phones, simply being a novel app, and as usage increased, recognizing
the opportunity for a more invasive, more aware assistant. The realm of digital assistants is not an open
playing field, as four tech giants are leading the market, but there is no singly company that has an
indefinite grasp on the market. The Amazon Echo and Alexa may be in the lead, but since this market is
only partially penetrated, there is room for movement.

Starting off as an innovative device, digital assistant speakers attracted early-adopters and tech
enthusiasts. A tangible piece of artificial intelligence garnered attention, but not yet heavy adoption. I
foresee the prices of these devices continuing the drop, and the learning curve made lower as integration
with other devices expands. These dual factors are going to continue the growth of this market with so
much potential.

References and Resources

http://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/city-living/the-rise-of-digital-assistants-and-how-theyre-gonna-change-everything https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_speech_and_voice_recognition

https://www.research.ibm.com/hlt/html/body_history.html https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/03/15/938033/0/en/15-8-Billion-Virtual-Digital-
Assistants-Market-2021-Focus-on-Intelligence-Natural-Language-Processing-and-Conversational-User-
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digital-assistant Interfaces.html

https://www.recode.net/2017/5/17/15655458/digital-assistants-voice-activated-operating-systems-alexa-siri-
cortana-ios

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/04/27/7-predictions-for-the-future-of-digital-assistant-
search/#23c4ac2471f3

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2016/05/08/personal-digital-assistants-rise-and-they-want-
talk/83715794/