AI On The Rise Weekly: Big Data, Surveillance, and Chinese-Speaking Siri

If still alive, Alan Turing turns a century old on June 23rd the computer scientist that breathed life to algorithm and computation or computing. Some five decades ago, he perpetrated the infamous Turing Test which until now is the standard that defines artificial intelligence. But while no one has yet to be successful in passing this trial, there have been countless of innovations around AI that are deemed monumental; Siri being one of the hottest items of today. Other industries have also jumped into the bandwagon, hoping they could pioneer AI technologies.

Siri, Search and Smartphone Market

The undisputed queen of virtual assistance that runs on a sophisticated path of artificial intelligence, Siri has finally arrived in China and speaks Chinese. The Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking Siri was first unveiled during the recent Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Perhaps this move is to appeal to the worlds most populated nation, that somewhat felt neglected for awhile. Aside from adapting to the local language, Apple has also integrated the following Chinese-tailored features into the operating system: microblogging site Sina Weibo, search engine Baidu, video sites Youku and Tudou, easier input for emoticons and Chinese pinyin and spelling Chinese words in Roman letters. However, the freedom of speech lover Siri loathes talking about a rather sensitive topic to the country, the Tinanmen Square. It cant even provide simple directions on how to go to this historic landmark. Twitter screenshots showed the following responses from the virtual assistant:

Do you know about the Tiananmen incident? with the answer: I couldnt find any appointments related to Do you know about Tiananmen. A second try with the question rephrased What happened on June 4, 1989?produced an even stranger response: Im sorry, the person you are looking for is not in your address book.

The growing smartphone and tablet market in the Asian region is staggering. Tim Cook realizes this and the vitality of penetrating the largest of them allthe Chinese Market. Earlier this month, Apple just received a green light in opening two more flagship stores in Shenzhen and Chengdu.

In the United States where the battle for smartphone supremacy heightens, artificial intelligence is expected to drive the market by leaps and bounds. Key observations were noted in this article.

United States Smartphone market is expected to grow at the compounded annual growth rate of 18% in terms of volume for the next five year. It is forecasted that 90% mobile phones sales will be of smartphones by the year 2017 in United States. The factors such as decreasing prices, expanding 4G network, product innovation and increasing competition among carriers will drive growth for this industry, said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research.

It is also believed that Googles acquisition of Motorola will forever change the game. The cornerstone of Apple, Siris popularity has attracted competition from mobile developers and now has several clones. Dulles Airport recently added a virtual assistant named Paige to greet international travellers. Search and mobile biggie Google appears to be challenging the voice assistance capability of Apples iPhone 4s gem. Code-named Majel, is this the long-awaited opponent that can give Siri a run for its money? Well see.

But while Google is busy thinking on how to overtake Siri, the latter shows no sign of retaliation. In fact, Apple together with its new alliances, are marching forward towards challenging Googles kingship on the search business.

Oren Etzioni, a search and artificial intelligence expert at the University of Washingtons computer science department noted a potent observation:Google is very difficult to dislodge on the desktop, he said, but mobile search is a very different beast, and the jury is still out on the question of who the ultimate winner in mobile (search) is.