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something on our minds, to place an order at restaurant, to activate a device like vacuum for
cleaning or to even tell us jokes.
What are the challenges that digital assistants need to overcome?
Privacy: The more devices that support the assistants, the more streamlined the experience will
be. But for the technology to attain its potential, it needs to resolve the trade-off between
convenience and privacy.
Digital assistants are backed by artificial intelligence systems, connected to your home through
the internet to at least one speaker and an always-on microphone. But most of these assistants
remember our commands forever and this is where it gets tricky.
Should the devices have an informed consent before recording? Who from the companies can
view this information? Even if the stored data is erased completely, wiping them out will degrade
the devices’ performance.
Understanding language: The other challenge lies within deep learning itself. Even as
machines recognise speech more reliably and talk in a less stilted manner, they don’t
understand the meaning of language.
This makes it difficult to maintain coherent conversation since the context goes missing.
How will digital assistants further evolve?
Interacting through Conversations: Currently, you interact with most digital assistants through
voice or the search box. Voice works great in certain situations- when you are in the car or at
home- but feels less comfortable to use as an input mechanism when you are with other
people. In that case, being able to have a text conversation with your assistant might be
appropriate.
Domain Specific Knowledge: In the future, we can imagine more specific modules built into
these assistants for various domains related to productivity, relationships, shopping, or finance.
Through your previous actions and biometric sensor data, the butler should just know.
Completely autonomous: It doesn’t need to wait for you to command it to do something that
would be beneficial for you.For instance, a digital butler shouldn’t wait for you to tell it that you
are thirsty and that you would like lemonade.
With the rising popularity of digital assistants, we are on the verge of a new digital age.
Only time can tell how these digital genies will further evolve.