Voice assistants beg for him. Should you really give them?

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By [email protected]


If you believe what Google and Amazon want to believe you, this It is the era of vocal assistants … again. This week, both companies have revealed more details about the future of their smart home environmental systems, which focus on two things: new smart speakers (of course) in the form Google Home Speaker New Echo products Through better and faster sound chips, but perhaps most importantly, a new crop, and it is supposed to be promoted by voice assistants to play them. For Google, it is a gemini for the home, and for the Amazon, there is Alexa+, both of which are fed by progressing in large language models (LLMS) like those used by Chatgpt.

At the estimate of both companies, Alexa+ and Gemini for the house are not only new generations of voice assistants, but Firstly The real generations have expanded since the dawn of voice assistants 10 years ago. With this expectation, some great promises. This time, companies say, you will be able to do everything. Want Uber? Request it with Alexa+. Do you want to check the home camera to see what your cat was today? Ask Gemini. You want to turn off every smart light in your home only one? Well, this is something you can In reality Now ask instead of winning several orders in the hope that you will stick. All this looks great. This seems exactly the type of surrounding computing that has distinguished us since the vocal assistants crept their way to our homes since the ages. All this looks very perfect, as it seems, if you are honest, as it can be the total pottery of disgust.

Amazon Fire Echo Ring Scribe Device 16
The new Amazon Speaker Death Star-Sque. © Adriano Controlras / Gizmodo

Let me be clear: I have no doubt that Chatbots can be transformative in some respects. We have already seen how it could be Apply to areas such as research, Allow more complex information, comparisons, and tips. We have seen Obstetrics When it is combined and transferred to models such as Po or Sura. We have seen how they can Basic Applications Code Once I write an idea in a text box. Even if all these capabilities are far from perfection, we have seen difficult examples of how they work when they work well. Voice assistants? Well, we have a much lower evidence.

In the midst of the uproar from Amazon this week, there was one blatant omission. Although Alexa+, the sound auxiliary from the next generation, was available early, it was not revealed when you plan to release the upgrade on a larger scale yet general From her escape. He is still in “early arrival” to American customers. This may mean many things, clearly; Amazon may take his time and make sure that things are set before Alexa+ in the world. But on a more ridiculous level, this may also mean that Alexa+ is not completely ready for major championships.

Giving credibility to this last theory? Siri. Remember when Apple promised an imminent version of Siri from the next generation of Siri as part of Apple Intelligence in June 2024? Yes, well, It is still not hereAnd there is no real indicator on when it will arrive. And the reason? Well, if we want to put our thinking hats, it will be not yet ready. To take this inference one step forward: you expect voicists working in LLM jobs to be longer than companies like Apple, which can be said to be the most resource technology company in the world, has expected.

Google Nest 23 product launch
Google Home Speaker … does not come out until the Spring of 2026.

Now, Amazon or Google may get more luck on this front – I have poured Google in particular huge resources Gemini, It will not be reasonable to think about all this interest and investment can lead to a kind of penetration. But there is still a lot to be skeptical. I recently got a briefing on the new Google Smart Home products, including GEINI for home assistant, and according to Google, the lunning of a sound assistant with LLM is not just clear as you think.

Although Gemini may be great in understanding the natural language, it may actually be in reality no Be perfect for the most simple things, such as turning off your lights. Although it can be impressive at times, it tends to think and explain, which makes it good for some tasks, but not what you want when it comes to the smart house for bread and butter.

Anish Katocaran told Google Home and Nest, Gizmodo that simple orders should “work 10 out of 10 times.”

Because of these differences, Google says it actually separates the models at the Guemi of the house, which means that the most advanced LLM may not run the lights and stop them or set up time adjustment devices. When you say “Hey, Google”, the fake and most focused Gemini will be on the tasks that you will use in time adjusting devices, lights, music playbacks, rapid web search operations, and other automated things in the public smart home. When you say, “Google, let’s talk,” however, Gemini for Home stimulates the position of Gemini Live, which uses more natural language forces in LLM to get a “chat” for conversation. This is where you will get more thinking and creativity to make recipes for flying or brainstorming to spend a vacation. In this mode with Gemini Live, artificial intelligence will be “listening” and more overlapping, allowing you to speak normally without feeling as if you are constantly barking orders and then doing something for you.

This asks the question: How really is Gemini in The most mysterious model you will use every day? How advanced is truly? It should also be noted Gemini for the houseLike Alexa+, early in early access, and the Google issue with vocal auxiliary update with LLM is not exclusive to Gemini – it’s the same issue that companies face in all fields.

Listen, I am only ready to finish the eggs on my face in writing these things, but I am Hopelessly To do. I have, like many others, I have a simple smart house, and I have faced (like many others) to thwart and frustrate it even in simple tasks. I am ready for the next generation of sound aides, even if that means that I should give up a monthly subscription to use them. But in the hope that I have finished the long nodes of the desire for more but constantly expecting less. Therefore, in the case of Gemini, Alexa and Siri, I will need to see the results before I buy in Redo a full sound assistant.



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