Voice assistants have become an essential part of our daily lives. These digital programs on our devices listen and respond to our verbal commands. We can ask them anything from the weather report to ordering our favorite pizza, and they will carry out our requests effortlessly. However, many of us forget to stop and think about how these voice assistants work.
So, how do they understand us? Is it magic, a complex system of codes, or an actual person listening on the other end? The answer is less complicated than you might think. It all starts with a signal word.
Just like how you call a friend’s name to get their attention, users say the names of their voice assistants for the same reason. The signal word wakes up the device and signals to the voice assistant that it should begin paying attention. Once the voice assistant hears its signal word, it starts recording and waits for a pause to know you’ve finished your request.
The device then sends your recorded request over the Internet to its database. Once in the database, your request is compared to other requests and split into separate commands that your voice assistant can understand. The database then sends these commands back to the voice assistant. Once it receives the commands, the voice assistant knows what to do next.
If the voice assistant thinks it understands your request, it might ask a question to make sure. If it’s confident, it will carry out the tasks you asked for. The entire process happens very quickly, and you get your response in seconds.
Voice assistants are improving all the time, and they learn the same way people do. Every time you ask a voice assistant for something and receive unexpected results, the device learns from its mistake. It communicates that with the database and tries to do better next time.
Voice assistants can do just about anything you can think of. They answer questions, make calls, and can even control parts of your home like the lights and thermostat. Over 35 million Americans already use voice assistants, and the number is growing.
In conclusion, voice assistants are not magic, but they certainly make our lives easier. Understanding how they work can give us a better appreciation of what they can do for us.