| Absolutely right. We refer to this as the Scarlett Johanssonn problem. Any system that is smart enough to understand what we mean by the Scarlett Johanssonn problem, and the reference to Artificially Intelligent virtual assistants, would itself need to be a strong AI. We've already solved the problem of translating human to machine code for graphical user interfaces. It's the desktop with the keyboard and mouse. It's the app and the touchscreen. You're exactly right that the question now is how can we do the same translation for voice-based systems. So far the approach has been Virtual assistants, which is really hard, see again the Scarlett Johanssonn problem. We've been working to find the right design/interaction metaphor, and the app metaphor seems to work really well. Not only is the search space limited, like you mentioned, but users have a more intuitive since of how to interact with the app. When you open a shopping app, you know that you can likely search for something to buy ("I'm looking for a new pair of shoes"). When you interact with a general virtual assistant, that interaction is less clear. The app model also works for scaling conversational interaction beyond a single context. Individual apps can support their own language for interaction which best suits their function. This of course necessitates design standards, just like we have for GUIs. The limitations for fully voice-based applications aren't technical at this point. They are design problems with known solutions. The break out for voice will happen when the right form factor comes about with the right UI design. |
Chris Maury? If so, hoping to see your progress on this with Conversant Labs in the coming year or so. After I read the article I was wondering if I'd see you on HN.
Also my daughter (who also has Stargardt's) found it very inspiring to chat with you at the accessibility meetup.