Artificial intelligence is the future, and the future is now. With multiple artificial intelligence apps being rolled out from big time companies like Apple and Microsoft, it’s only a matter of time before they take over and render most finger-tapping phone functions useless.
As of now, there is a lot of polishing that needs to be done, and AI falls under the category to most as a convenience option rather than a necessity. But as we all know, there’s a lot of functions that AI applications offer, and you can bet they’re impressive.
The question now is which one is at the top, and which ones are the contenders? The big four AI assistants that are available to mobile devices are Alexa by Amazon, Google Assistant by Google, Siri by Apple, and Cortana by Microsoft. Bixby is not included because its release was premature and the software is still under development.
The first Artificial Intelligence app
It’s hard to say who made it first, but when it comes to release date, Apple was the first to open their product to public use in 2011. Built into the iPhone 4s, Siri caused quite a stir within Apple supporters, and envious non-supporters. Amazon and Cortana released their AI applications 3 years later in 2014, and Google released its Google Assistant just last year in 2016.
How intelligent is artificial intelligence?
When it comes to the best artificial intelligence app, one thing you’d want it to be is smart. After all, it’s in their name. We could find out which AI is smarter by compiling a list of five thousand questions, downloading and installing each of the applications, then asking them the questions and recording the data. Unfortunately, not a lot of us have the luxury or the time for that. Lucky for us, a digital agency called Stone Temple has done the hard work for us by studying the four AIs’ knowledge.
As you can tell by the graph, Google is clearly in the lead when it comes to knowledge. This doesn’t come as a surprise knowing that Google has the leading search engine worldwide.
Siri vs Google vs Alexa
As an assistant, an artificial intelligence app must be able to support its users with everyday tasks. Quickly checking the weather and news reports, searching for requested information, suggesting alternative solutions to problems, and more should be offered by default.
There’s no doubt that Apple had a head start. With their early release, Siri received critical feedback which they used to upgrade the AI to the valuable application it is now. Siri is arguably the most competent when it comes to carrying out commands.
Backed by the strongest search engine on the net, Google isn’t too far behind and is quite smooth in carrying out day-to-day tasks. Although Google Assistant released in 2016, they’ve had their experience with the short-lived Google Now and have improved since then.
Cortana comes trailing behind. As an assistant for the PC, Cortana also has some experience under its belt, and it isn’t too far behind Apple and Google. It offers most of the same functions as the other two do such as event reminders and search engine, but it could still use some improvements to the in-phone capabilities. At the moment, Cortana relies a bit too much on Bing searches instead of directly answering questions.
While Alexa isn’t bad at understanding and committing to your commands, it’s confined to the Amazon Echo. This means that Alexa is not portable, unless you carry your Echo around. This is a major inconvenience.
The best artificial intelligence app
Artificial intelligence future is critical in the decision of best AI, as improvements could mean catching up to competitors or leaving them in the dust. However, this is something we cannot measure as all four companies have unfathomable potential.
From the categories listed, there is only one which resulted in a blowout between the four AI applications, and that is knowledge. When asked 5000 questions by Stone Temple, Google Assistant came out on top, with Siri behind with about 10% less accuracy.
For the functionality, they each had a bit of trouble with certain commands, some more than others. This might have been a deal-breaker a few years, or even a few months ago, but with the frequent updates and tweaks, the four AI applications aren’t so different (excluding the Bing-reliant Cortana).
Alexa is restricted to the Echo and Echo Dot, two products I don’t own. I also prefer my AI to be with me, even when I’m out of the house. For that reason, Alexa is not for me.
Cortana seems somewhat decent, however I don’t see the need to download and install the application, when Google Assistant does the job (arguably better) and comes as the default assistant.
I’m a frequent customer of Androids rather than Apple products, so Siri isn’t available to me. As a plus, Google Assistant seems to know more than the other AI assistants. With all that said, for me, the Google Assistant takes the trophy. If I was an iPhone user, I’d have to argue that Siri wins the crown.