When Will Siri Make That Dinner Reservation for You?

Tim Berners-LeeSemantic Web

1. Easy and effective communication ability. In order to carry out requested tasks, a personal assistant has to first understand what is requested, both written and verbal, in the context and language of the requestor. According to a recent article, current tools still miss around 8 percent of spoken words and do very poorly on the context.
   
2. Display an engaging and intelligent personality. All personal assistants realize that requestors have different moods and personalities, so they need to be respectful, courteous and sometimes assertive. I still find the current tools to be unintelligent, flat, boring and way behind the technology and marketing curve of what is possible today.
   
3. Environment and context savvy. A good assistant constantly improves their knowledge of the world around the requestor, so they know quickly what is really being requested and what the acceptable outcomes might be in the requestor context. This is where all current tools fail -- by not honing a local database to learn from and frame each request.
   
4. High value-added skills and productivity. Today’s personal assistants seem focused on expediting the Internet search process and simplifying text-intensive device control commands on your smartphone or tablet. The real value from personal assistants comes from being able to complete outside tasks like ordering products or making reservations.
   
5. Provide convincing integrity, security and privacy. This seems to be a big hurdle in user acceptance, but I haven’t yet heard of Siri or Cortana sharing any personal search requests with outsiders. I believe the standards work now implemented for the exchange and protection of medical and personal health information should mitigate this concern.
   

Gartner
AssistantHERAlfred