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It's easy to think about interacting with a computer as a programmer, but "Computer, when does the next star wars movie come out?" is much easier for most peopl

by imh 11y ago

It's easy to think about interacting with a computer as a programmer, but "Computer, when does the next star wars movie come out?" is much easier for most people than "SELECT release_date FROM ...". Unstructured language is just super accessible to more people. Everyone knows it already! It's not just about conversation, but conversation towards tasks.

lucaspiller 11y ago
That and other examples like "Call me an Uber" [0] are already relatively simple tasks, and adding voice interaction doesn't really add much to it. Is this going to be the next wave of smart devices, instead of an app you talk to your washing machine? Ok it's not necessarily a bad thing (especially in terms of accessibility - plus nobody even knows which setting they should use [1]), but I don't think this is what OP is hinting at. Say you are working in HR "How many staff took a greater than average sick days around holiday weekends?", for that task what does voice interaction provide over a report, which can even be automatically generated and delivered for when you arrive at 9:03am. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403524037/autonomous-desk-the-smartest-office-desk-yet-power https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403524037/autonomous-de... [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P53Bde2yq5E/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P53Bde2yq5E/maxresdefault.jpg
overgard 11y ago
Just keeping the star trek metaphor going (nerd alert!); I remember there's this episode where counselor troi asks the computer to "cross-reference" entries on darmok, or something like that (1980s version of google basically). The computer comes back with like 47 entries the computer reads back one by one and she gives up in disgust after like three! On the other hand, if that was on a screen that she could quickly just scan, 47 entries is nothing, and when you google stuff you're probably adding or removing search terms randomly to narrow down on exactly what you want. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a voice interface, I just never see it being anything more than a secondary convenience.
- imh 11y ago
  That's exactly what a hypothetical conversational interface would do that a simple voice interface couldn't. It's the level 3 the article was talking about. If the computer responds "There are 47 entries," you might say "Do any of them contain the word tanagra?" or "Get me the most recent one."

by imh 11y ago

lucaspiller 11y ago

That and other examples like "Call me an Uber" [0] are already relatively simple tasks, and adding voice interaction doesn't really add much to it. Is this going to be the next wave of smart devices, instead of an app you talk to your washing machine? Ok it's not necessarily a bad thing (especially in terms of accessibility - plus nobody even knows which setting they should use [1]), but I don't think this is what OP is hinting at. Say you are working in HR "How many staff took a greater than average sick days around holiday weekends?", for that task what does voice interaction provide over a report, which can even be automatically generated and delivered for when you arrive at 9:03am. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403524037/autonomous-desk-the-smartest-office-desk-yet-power https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403524037/autonomous-de... [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P53Bde2yq5E/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P53Bde2yq5E/maxresdefault.jpg

overgard 11y ago

Just keeping the star trek metaphor going (nerd alert!); I remember there's this episode where counselor troi asks the computer to "cross-reference" entries on darmok, or something like that (1980s version of google basically). The computer comes back with like 47 entries the computer reads back one by one and she gives up in disgust after like three! On the other hand, if that was on a screen that she could quickly just scan, 47 entries is nothing, and when you google stuff you're probably adding or removing search terms randomly to narrow down on exactly what you want. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a voice interface, I just never see it being anything more than a secondary convenience.

imh 11y ago
That's exactly what a hypothetical conversational interface would do that a simple voice interface couldn't. It's the level 3 the article was talking about. If the computer responds "There are 47 entries," you might say "Do any of them contain the word tanagra?" or "Get me the most recent one."