Business Insider has a piece that compares three smart speaker systems - Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and the Google Assistant - to see which one is smarter.
Among the questions asked: "How old would John Lennon be today?” “What is the GDP of Kuwait?” “When was the first iPhone released?” “How much is 83 feet in meters?” "How much does a Tesla Model 3 cost?” “Why is the sky blue?” And, “Where do babies come from?”
The author concludes: “Despite my preconceived notions about the intelligence behind Google's hardware and assistant, it actually came in last place after tallying up the results of this pop quiz. It did know Apple's history better than Apple's own hardware, though, and didn't round up when asking my question about unit conversion.
“Siri and Alexa both answered the same number of questions correctly, but two of Siri's responses required me to actually look at a screen for the answer.”
It ends up that not only does Amazon’s Alexa “know how to answer science questions (why is the sky blue?) and when to pass things off to a human (where do babies come from?), but it's also pretty sharp at giving you answers to deeper queries (how old would John Lennon be today?) … The only moment that really gave me pause was when Alexa tried to sell me a Tesla accessory like, well, a used car salesperson. That would be fine if it answered my question first — something like "A Tesla Model 3 costs $35,000. Would you like to order one?" would even have been funny — but it didn’t.”
Alexa won the contest, but the story notes that “all three contestants did a pretty admirable job. It'll be interesting to revisit this article in a year or two and see how much smarter they've all gotten.”
Among the questions asked: "How old would John Lennon be today?” “What is the GDP of Kuwait?” “When was the first iPhone released?” “How much is 83 feet in meters?” "How much does a Tesla Model 3 cost?” “Why is the sky blue?” And, “Where do babies come from?”
The author concludes: “Despite my preconceived notions about the intelligence behind Google's hardware and assistant, it actually came in last place after tallying up the results of this pop quiz. It did know Apple's history better than Apple's own hardware, though, and didn't round up when asking my question about unit conversion.
“Siri and Alexa both answered the same number of questions correctly, but two of Siri's responses required me to actually look at a screen for the answer.”
It ends up that not only does Amazon’s Alexa “know how to answer science questions (why is the sky blue?) and when to pass things off to a human (where do babies come from?), but it's also pretty sharp at giving you answers to deeper queries (how old would John Lennon be today?) … The only moment that really gave me pause was when Alexa tried to sell me a Tesla accessory like, well, a used car salesperson. That would be fine if it answered my question first — something like "A Tesla Model 3 costs $35,000. Would you like to order one?" would even have been funny — but it didn’t.”
Alexa won the contest, but the story notes that “all three contestants did a pretty admirable job. It'll be interesting to revisit this article in a year or two and see how much smarter they've all gotten.”
- KC's View:
