Samsung acquired potential Siri-killer Viv Labs, from the guys who originally created Siri, perhaps in response to Google Assistant.
Adam Rifkin stashed this in Chatbots
Emma Watson has nothing to do with Viv Labs.
But wouldn't it be amazing if she was the voice of Viv?
Stashed in: Awesome, Siri, Turing, Samsung, Artificial Intelligence, Echo
Makes me wonder: Why now?
Samsung just bought Viv Labs, the startup behind "Viv," a personal digital assistant that's supposed to one-up Apple's famed Siri in smarts, according to a press release.
Notably, Viv Labs was founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham — three of the inventors of Siri itself. Apple bought Siri in 2010 before introducing it alongside the iPhone 4S in 2011.
Thickening the plot even further, it was reported back in May 2016 that Google and Facebook had both made offers for Viv Labs over the course of its years-long development cycle. So while we don't know how much Samsung paid, we can assume it was competitive.
Apple has recently made a big bet on Siri, beefing up its intelligence and the number of outside apps it can access in the recent iOS 10 update for iPhone and iPad. Siri also recently made its debut on Mac with the new MacOS Sierra operating system.
But the real impetus may be Google's heavy emphasis on its own Google Assistant for its home-built Pixel phones and other products, like Google Home. Google has had a virtual assistant in Android phones for several years now, but the company is talking up its Google Assistant as a massive leap forward.
Samsung, Apple's top competitor and the number-one manufacturer of premium Android phones, is now making moves to compete with Apple and avoid getting outflanked by Google.
Viv Labs has long promised that Viv outpaces Siri by having a better understanding of context and situational awareness: You don't need to tell Viv to pull up any particular app; asking it to book a hotel room automatically brings up Hotels.com. Plus, Viv isn't limited to phones, and can be installed on everything from watches to smart fridges.
SEE ALSO: Google couldn't stop copying Apple, Amazon, and Facebook even if it wanted to
NOW WATCH: Google just showed off its Siri killer — and it can even remember lock combinations
The acquisition in Dag's words:
https://elevate.samsunggic.com/the-path-to-intelligence-everywhere-5635193a355c
Btw "Google Assistant" is not a good name.
https://theringer.com/google-assistant-is-not-a-good-name-for-google-s-assistant-cc436123dea7
1:19 AM Oct 06 2016