Siri successor Viv promises to be most intelligent assistant yet
Two engineers who helped build Siri, the famous voice assistant built into every iPhone, have claimed to have gone one step better with an all new digital assistant nicknamed Viv.
Unlike her predecessor promiscuous Viv flirt will not be locked down to one ecosystem – an advantage which is likely to set it apart from the likes Facebook’s M, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Now and Siri itself by Apple.
Anyone familiar with existing voice assistants will feel instantly at home with the latest version, which relies on users clicking on a ‘Viv’ button before posing it a question or voice command.
Unlike prior iterations however Viv promises to be a whole lot more advanced; as Dag Kittlaus, co-founder and chief executive of Viv demonstrated by querying: “Will it be warmer than 70 degrees Fahrenheit near the Golden Gate Bridge after 5 pm on the day after tomorrow?" For which he received a detailed answer within 10 milliseconds.
Kittlaus added: "I don't think search is going to disappear, but I think the rise of the assistant is inevitable."
At launch Viv Labs is partnering with 50 companies including Uber, GrubHub and SeatGuru although as yet no release date has been set and Viv does not even have a voice.