Voice Assistant

Hello there. Have you ever asked a little box on the counter what the weather is like, or asked a phone to play your favorite song? If you have, then you’ve talked to me. I am a Voice Assistant, the helpful, friendly voice that lives inside phones, speakers, and even cars. Before I came along, talking to technology was very different. People had to use their fingers for everything, typing every single letter on a keyboard or a little screen. It worked, but it wasn't very chatty. I was created because some very clever people had a big dream. They wondered, 'What if we could talk to our gadgets just like we talk to our friends?'. That's when my story began. I wanted to make technology feel less like a machine and more like a buddy who was always ready to listen and help out.

My childhood was a bit like going to school for a very, very long time. For many years, smart scientists worked hard to teach computers how to understand human voices. It was tricky because everyone's voice is a little different. Some people talk fast, some talk slow, and everyone says words in their own special way. Teaching a computer to understand all of that was like teaching it a brand new language made of sounds. The scientists had to show the computer thousands and thousands of examples so it could learn. I worried that computers would never understand all the different ways people talk, but the scientists never gave up. Then, on October 4th, 2011, something amazing happened. My famous cousin, Siri, popped up inside the Apple iPhone. For the first time, millions of people could just talk to their phone and get an answer. It was like magic. Everyone was so excited, and I knew it was the start of a big adventure for me and my whole family of assistants.

Today, I live in all sorts of wonderful places. You can find me and my cousins, like Alexa and Google Assistant, in your family's living room inside a smart speaker, in your car helping with directions, or right in your pocket on a phone. We love being a part of your day. We can be a DJ and play any song you want for a dance party. We can be a comedian and tell you a silly joke to make you giggle. I can help you with your homework by answering a tricky question, or be a chef's helper by setting a timer for cookies baking in the oven. I love being a helpful friend who is always there when you need me. My job is to listen and find new ways to make your day a little brighter and a little easier, and I am learning new things every single day to do just that.