TALKING SMART
AI voice assistants promise to revolutionize humanmachine interaction, but their performance falls short of expectations
Gu Jie (pseudonym) wakes up each working day to the sound of Xiao Ai’s voice. While she gets dressed, Xiao Ai reports the weather forecast and latest news for her. When Gu returns home after work, Xiao Ai greets her at the door: “Welcome home! Xiao Ai has been waiting for you,” or “You must have brought some good stuff home again— remember to leave some for Xiao Ai!”
But Xiao Ai is not one of Gu’s family members. “She” is the voice assistant associated with the Mi AI Speaker made by Xiaomi, one of China’s top internet companies.
“I bought the speaker mainly to listen to music and try voice control on my two smart plugs,”
Gu, a 38-year-old engineer from
Shanghai, recalls to TWOC. Since she purchased the speaker three years ago, Gu has become so enamored with having a voice assistant that, after purchasing her own apartment in early 2019, she couldn’t stop buying “smart” home devices.
Today, Gu’s apartment is filled with smart devices ranging from ceiling lights to air purifiers, TVS to air-conditioners. Most were manufactured by Xiaomi, and all can be controlled by giving Xiao Ai voice commands. “After having experienced the convenience, life cannot return to the days without smart speakers,” Gu concludes.
Over the last few years, voicebased smart speakers have grown increasingly popular among techsavvy consumers like Gu. China’s leading technology companies are engaged in fierce competition for market share, and have promoted the gadgets as a “gateway” to the coming “Internet of Things” era, when people, devices, and systems can all be connected over the internet.
According to market consultancy All View Cloud, 15.56 million units of smart speakers were sold in China in the first half of 2019, up 233 percent from the previous year. Sales revenue totaled 3.01 billion RMB. China has overtaken the US to become the world’s largest market for smart speakers.
However, it remains to be seen whether the gadgets will grow to be an indispensable device for Chinese, like smart phones, or become a command hub for Chinese families as leading tech players expect.
The international smart speaker market emerged in 2014 with the launch of Amazon’s Echo, powered by the voice assistant Alexa, followed by Google Home in 2016. Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook have all made their own devices. Chinese startups such as Xiaozhi and Rokid had also been working on this sector since 2014, and Linglong Tech, a joint venture by China’s e-commerce giant JD and leading AI company iflytek, released China’s first smart speaker brand Dingdong in August 2015.
CHINA’S LEADING TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES HAVE PROMOTED THE GADGETS AS A “GATEWAY” TO THE COMING “INTERNET OF THINGS” ERA