The History of the Virtual Assistant
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick wrote and directed a movie that would introduce the concept of a virtual assistant. In his film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the science fiction world was introduced to H.A.L. 9000. "H.A.L (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is an artificial intelligence that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship's astronaut crew" ("HAL 9000," n.d., para. 1).
Artificial intelligence is nothing new to our society. It has been depicted in science fiction movies and novels for decades, just as HAL was. But now we are using virtual assistants, (or intelligent personal assistants), in our every days lives through a smart phone smaller than an index card. It is amazing to think how far we have come in just a few decades.
Read below to find out the history of two virtual assistants, Google Now and Siri.
Google Now
Google Now is a virtual assistant that was created by Google
in 2011. During the summer of
2012, Google launched the app for smart phones supporting the Android and iOS
operating systems. Later that
year, Google Now released display cards with the app. The cards sync with G-mail and
Google searches and display information geared towards the user, such as
weather, movies, directions, sports scores, boarding passes, etc. Like most virtual assistants, Google
Now “uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make
recommendations, and perform actions” (“Google Now,” n.d.).
Apple's Siri
John Sculley, the former Apple CEO, wrote a book called Odyssey in the late 1980’s. In his novel, he describes a device very
similar iPad with a built-in virtual assistant called the Knowledge Navigator. In the early 1990’s, Apple came
out with a video describing the features of the Knowledge Navigator and the
hope for this advancement of technology in the future (“Knowledge Navigator,”
n.d.). Although this is a longer
video, it highlights key features that Apple predicted would happen with
technology, such as video teleconferencing (Facetime), intelligence agents
(Siri), network file sharing, voice recognition and collaboration (“Apple’s Future Computer: The Knowledge Navigator,” n.d.).
Click here to watch the video.
Click here to watch the video.
Two decades later, the world was introduced to Apple's Siri. Originally intended to be an app available for all iPhones, Blackberries and Androids, Apple decided against it. Instead, Apple released Siri with the iPhone 4S in 2011 making it exclusive and desirable. Similar to Google Now, Siri uses a "natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendation and perform actions" ("Siri," n.d.). Just by using your voice, you can make phone calls, send text messages, get directions, schedule meetings, create reminders and much, much more. Like most virtual assistants, the more the user interacts with the application, the better the software performs because it adapts to your preferences.
Click here to see Karen Jacobsen, the voice behind Siri.
