Virtual assistants, just a trend or something else?

Today, they are in a large number of homes, present in a variety of devices and within the reach of anyone. Their main function is to solve our doubts and make our lives easier. They are virtual assistants, and they are definitely a trend, but do they represent something else?

Let’s start with the basics. Voice commands and online inquiries are nothing new. In fact, they have existed since the beginning of the digital revolution and took hold at the end of the first decade of 2000 with the appearance of increasingly powerful mobile devices: smartphones. It was with these gadgets that people started the process that today is known as hyperconnectivity.

Facilitate our daily tasks, streamline our questions, connect our various programs and devices in single hardware, and more are handled by virtual assistants.

Those who dominate the market (Siri, Alexa and Google Home) wage a commercial battle to show who turns out to be crowned leader in this area. The companies that own these artificial intelligences have researchers, designers, developers and even human behavior analysts whose purpose is to enhance the capabilities of these tools.

Whether it’s telling the weather, time, scheduling appointments, or doing quick calculations, virtual assistants have been quickly accepted by users. Mainly because they were thought and designed to be friendly, fast and intuitive, but also because they are incorporated into various commonly used devices such as smartphones, televisions and others, making it difficult to escape interacting with one at least once.

We were used to those old movies where cold, robotic voices came from the computers. Today, the fact that the voices that these gadgets incorporate are friendly, serene and more “real” already marks a before and after in virtual assistants and in how their users perceive them. Not surprisingly, Alexa is the assistant that tops the popularity list in this area; the simple fact of having a common name, short and easy to remember facilitates people’s empathy with the brand and the device.

In many cases, people turn to these devices because it is something that is a trend, perhaps on the recommendation of a friend or relative, or simply because it is a modern way of expressing commands to put on music or turn off the lights in the house. And it stays only in that, in the curious object of the month, which is useful occasionally.

But for other people, it may mean something else. The technology solutions company Runroom, based in Spain, has evaluated cases in which people who live alone, retirees, and even people with autism show a special affinity with these devices. The kind voice of one of these gadgets, responding to commands, telling a timely joke or recommending the playlist of the moment, can help different people deal with loneliness or depression.

So, something that today could be seen only as a passing fad, or the speaker who responds to you when you pronounce her name, can mean much more depending on each individual. And judging by the demand that these devices are having, and as their new generations include screens of considerable size with new functions, it can be said that the trend is booming.

Although artificial intelligence has proven to be an interesting powerhouse for current and future generations of technology, it does not escape the fact that these machines handle a large amount of confidential user information. This software has extensive databases containing your musical tastes, purchasing preferences, email, pace of life, etc., and it is important that, as users, we know what information to provide.

Similarly, we must know how the authorities regulate the companies that own these technologies. Let’s just remember the scandal that Facebook suffered in 2018 when Mark Zuckerberg’s company allegedly shared private information of its users with third parties.

At the end of the day, it will depend on how each user uses these gadgets and assess whether having one of these devices adds or subtracts within daily activities. The truth is that artificial intelligence is here to stay, and along with the evolution of robotics, who knows what kind of assistants will accompany us in the perhaps not-too-distant future.