Google Develops Free Voice Search App for iPhone
Google researchers have merged voice recognition technology with the company's search software to create a voice activated search application for Apple's iPhone. The application could be available as early as today via the iTunes store.
Google, along with a plethora of other tech companies, has been researching voice recognition technology for quite some time. Accurate voice recognition (of any phrase from any dialect) is the Holy Grail for artificial intelligence researchers. It is the biggest step in making man-machine interaction more natural. According to researcher Raj Reddy of Carnegie Mellon, "It’s important to understand that machine recognition will never be perfect... The question is, How close can they come to human performance?" This turns out to be a very important question for Google as well as advertisers. Location based queries are highly valuable to advertisers, making them highly valuable to Google. Reddy believes that Google, with its sheer capacity for storage and analysis of data, will have an advantage over competitors - "Whatever they introduce now, it will greatly increase in accuracy in three or six months." Another advantage for Google is the incredible volume of queries it has received over the years, from which it can hone its accuracy.
The new app (no word on the name yet) will allow users to ask location based questions such as "Where is the closest gas station?" as well as non location based questions, "What is the circumference of the moon?" The question is converted into a digital file and passed along to Google's server where it is analyzed. The response could be accurate and could take advantage of the iPhones GPS for more accuracy in the case of directions, etc., but response could very well be gibberish. Google executives declined to comment on how often the service gives a valid answer, but clearly they believe it is useful enough to put in the public's hands. A British researcher has also added to the app a mechanism by which the accelerometer puts the device in "listen" mode when it is held near the ear.
Keep an eye out on the iTunes Store for this new app. Should be interesting to see how well it works.
[via NY Times]
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