When artificial intelligence is everywhere, all the time
It's easy to dismiss virtual assistants as parlor tricks, irrelevant gimmicks or even fatally flawed.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella didn't help matters last week when a demo of his company's Cortana virtual assistant failed spectacularly. At Salesforce.com's Dreamforce event in San Francisco, Nadella tried to show off Cortana as a business tool by asking it: "Show me my most at-risk opportunities." Cortana understood the request as: "Show me to buy milk at this opportunity."
The demo failed not because Cortana is fatally flawed and not because virtual assistants are bad interfaces. The demo failed because it was a demo. (Pro tip: Never demonstrate any voice system while using a microphone on stage in a crowded hall where everyone in the audience is using wireless.)
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