virtual assistant

Moemate’s AI avatar analyzes your whole screen, with spotty but intriguing results

As evidenced by the slow death of Cortana, it’s clear that the AI assistants of yesteryear aren’t meeting expectations. And so they’re being remade. Amazon is building a new large la

Augment’s personal AI assistant could help you keep track of a scattered digital life

If you’re having trouble tracking your work and personal life as it spreads over 20 different apps and productivity suites, to the point where you have a meeting in five minutes you don’t

Yandex shifts focus to ya.ru as it heads for media exit in Russia

TechCrunch has learned that Russia search giant Yandex is to switch from using yandex.ru as its main front page for Russian-speaking users to ya.ru — a less trafficked domain it’s owned si

Pareto thinks it shouldn’t be so hard to collect lead-generation data

Pareto’s team of data experts offer actionable insights on everything from TikTok influencers to qualifying B2B sales leads.

Siri gains a new gender-neutral voice option in latest iOS update

Apple has developed a new Siri voice, now available in the beta versions of its iOS 15.4 software, that doesn’t sound obviously male or female. The decision to introduce a gender-neutral voice i

Amazon officially launches its more natural ‘Conversation Mode’ option on Echo Show 10

Alexa is learning to have more natural conversations. Amazon today announced it’s rolling out the new “Conversation Mode” feature to its Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen.) devices which allows

AI shopping assistant Karma raises $25 million in Series A funding led by Target Global

AI shopping assistant and shopping network Karma announced that it has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Target Global followed by MoreTech Ventures, with participation from existing inves

AI-driven voice assistant PolyAI raises $14M round led by Khosla Ventures

“Conversational AI” startup PolyAI, based out of London, has raised $14 million in a funding round led by Silicon Valley’s Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing investors (Point7

Apple launches a new iOS app, ‘Siri Speech Study,’ to gather feedback for Siri improvements

Apple recently began a research study designed to collect speech data from study participants. Earlier this month, the company launched on the App Store a new iOS app called “Siri Speech Study&#

How Western Union is fighting back against fintech startups

The saying goes that, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” That may or may not be true, but at least one “old dog” is working hard to disprove that saying. Western Union has been operati

Voice AIs are raising competition concerns, EU finds

The European Union has been digging into the competition implications of AI-powered voice assistants and other Internet of Things (IoT) connected technologies for almost a year. Today it’s put o

The battle for voice recognition inside vehicles is heating up

Once a feature only for luxury vehicles, voice recognition has moved into the mainstream as manufacturers promise a seamless connection between vehicles, homes and personal devices.

White-label voice assistants will win the battle for podcast discovery

The voice assistant that can personalize podcasts and help listeners search, sample and discover content through shareable bite-sized pieces will win the voice wars.

Amazon’s Josh Miele and Anne Toth talk Alexa and the future of accessibility at Sight Tech Global

When Alexa launched six years ago, no one imagined that by today there would be hundreds of millions of Alexa-enabled devices or that Alexa would become part of so many lives. For people who are blind

Microsoft launches new Cortana features for business users

Cortana may have failed as a virtual assistant for consumers, but Microsoft is still betting on it (or at least its brand) for business use cases, now that it has rebranded it as a “personal pro

Voice assistants don’t work for kids: The problem with speech recognition in the classroom

Young "remote learners" often struggle to navigate the keyboards, menus, and interfaces required to make good on the promise of education technology.

Amazon launches an Alexa service for property managers

Amazon wants to bring Alexa to property managers. The company this morning launched a new service, Alexa for Residential, that aims to make it easier for property managers to set up and maintain Alexa

Where is voice tech going?

It’s a new world, and voice tech is shaping it.

Amazon launches new Alexa developer tools

Amazon today announced a slew of new features for developers who want to write Alexa skills. In total, the team released 31 new features at its Alexa Live event. Unsurprisingly, some of these are rela

WorldGaze uses smartphone cameras to help voice AIs cut to the chase

If you find voice assistants frustratingly dumb, you’re hardly alone. The much-hyped promise of AI-driven vocal convenience very quickly falls through the cracks of robotic pedantry. A smart AI
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