Amazon Alexa & Google's Assistant are inexcusably terrible at knowing when they're called
As smart speakers continue to encroach into our lives, the cheaper ones from Google and Amazon need to get better at knowing when we do and don't want them to speak up.
HomePod
In my home, I have more than a few "smart" speakers. Mixing ecosystems with the likes of Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple's Siri. My Ecobee 4 and OneLink Safe and Sound both have Alexa built in, as does the Echo Dot located upstairs. My HomePod sits in the office of our open-concept lower level.
Each time I go to make a request, I have to consider which device will be taking that request and tailor the key phrase based on the assistant I want to invoke. More often than not, it is HomePod that answers my call to action -- because Apple has put a lot of work into that particular aspect.
Then there is the inverse -- those non-infrequent times that I say something else other than the magic speaker invocation phrase, and yet one of the speakers feel the need to chime in.
Alexa speakers are the biggest offenders, frequently activating when no keyword was uttered. It is amazingly frustrating and almost scary the things they try to do without me asking.
My First Alert Onelink Safe and Sound once tried to donate my money to a charity, but luckily no charity was set up so she instead directed me to Amazon's website. Ecobee attempted to make a phone call before also saying that it wasn't set up. Had these been configured, it would be far too easy for these things to happen without me ever intending them to.
I didn't even know that Alexa was capable of some of the tasks before she tried to carry them out.
Many of these tasks have checks and balances -- like donating my money -- to help stop them from completing, but that doesn't make me feel any more comfortable with them trying to do so without me explicitly asking them to in the first place.
The unwanted responses get even worse when the TV is going and countless commercials -- especially around the holidays -- keep repeating Alexa's key phrase and causing my speakers to answer questions or play music. This isn't strictly Amazon or Google's fault -- but there needs to be better recognition to prevent this from ever happening again.
HomePod, on the other hand, has never inserted its opinion unprovoked. Since I can merely speak the phrase "Hey Siri" from across the downstairs and HomePod answers, Apple is clearly doing a much better job of monitoring and verifying those keywords before taking a request. Admittedly, how well it answers is up for debate, but that's a topic for another day.
What's the point of a smart speaker if it isn't smart enough to understand when we do and don't talk to them? I'm so close to completely disabling Alexa on my other speakers and picking up a second HomePod, even with the high price tag.
Yes, the HomePod needs quite a bit of love from Apple from a voice interpretation standpoint. Siri lacks requisite smarts for it to truly dominate the competition, and it lacks direct support for other music services without using AirPlay.
The one thing Apple did nail, however, is invoking the assistant in the first place, and knowing when it should keep quiet.
HomePod
In my home, I have more than a few "smart" speakers. Mixing ecosystems with the likes of Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple's Siri. My Ecobee 4 and OneLink Safe and Sound both have Alexa built in, as does the Echo Dot located upstairs. My HomePod sits in the office of our open-concept lower level.
Each time I go to make a request, I have to consider which device will be taking that request and tailor the key phrase based on the assistant I want to invoke. More often than not, it is HomePod that answers my call to action -- because Apple has put a lot of work into that particular aspect.
Then there is the inverse -- those non-infrequent times that I say something else other than the magic speaker invocation phrase, and yet one of the speakers feel the need to chime in.
Alexa speakers are the biggest offenders, frequently activating when no keyword was uttered. It is amazingly frustrating and almost scary the things they try to do without me asking.
My First Alert Onelink Safe and Sound once tried to donate my money to a charity, but luckily no charity was set up so she instead directed me to Amazon's website. Ecobee attempted to make a phone call before also saying that it wasn't set up. Had these been configured, it would be far too easy for these things to happen without me ever intending them to.
I didn't even know that Alexa was capable of some of the tasks before she tried to carry them out.
Many of these tasks have checks and balances -- like donating my money -- to help stop them from completing, but that doesn't make me feel any more comfortable with them trying to do so without me explicitly asking them to in the first place.
The unwanted responses get even worse when the TV is going and countless commercials -- especially around the holidays -- keep repeating Alexa's key phrase and causing my speakers to answer questions or play music. This isn't strictly Amazon or Google's fault -- but there needs to be better recognition to prevent this from ever happening again.
HomePod, on the other hand, has never inserted its opinion unprovoked. Since I can merely speak the phrase "Hey Siri" from across the downstairs and HomePod answers, Apple is clearly doing a much better job of monitoring and verifying those keywords before taking a request. Admittedly, how well it answers is up for debate, but that's a topic for another day.
What's the point of a smart speaker if it isn't smart enough to understand when we do and don't talk to them? I'm so close to completely disabling Alexa on my other speakers and picking up a second HomePod, even with the high price tag.
Yes, the HomePod needs quite a bit of love from Apple from a voice interpretation standpoint. Siri lacks requisite smarts for it to truly dominate the competition, and it lacks direct support for other music services without using AirPlay.
The one thing Apple did nail, however, is invoking the assistant in the first place, and knowing when it should keep quiet.
Comments
The creepiest example is when Siri on the HomePod was speaking in the middle of the night when everyone was in bed and no one was in the living room where the Homepod resides. I heard a loud “Hmm?”
Thinking it was either a glitch or a ghost with a sense of humor, I unplugged it until the next morning. 👻
So I'm always on the lookout for HomeKit enabled devices, and currently annoyed at the Ring Cameras that I bought into hoping they'll allow HomeKit for the past year and a half. Live and Learn!
Thanks so much for always highlighting the excellent devices that are available with HomeKit.
That is indeed creepy!
Always wondered what it was about to start doing.
… or if Alexa was his dog.
They should put that in a movie :-)
I have not yet had Alexa go off unintended, and the system works for my needs. Siri is on my wrist, and interestingly far less reliable. I occasionally look down at my watch and for no reason there is a Siri response unasked. In most other times, I need to repeat myself over and over to get Siri to respond. She know how to turn on the lights about 75% of the time. Siri is much more reliable on my iPhone.
It was an interesting experiment, and marginally worth the $75 mostly for the novelty. I think I got a coupon for $10 off an Alexa order on Amazon, so that part is nearly free to me. Which is actually about the right price.
The costs of a HomePod and associated Apple Music (or adding Amazon Music to the dot) are not worth it to me. YMMV.
I think Alexa goes off a little more, but they ALL have done it, even Apple. Alexa though doesn't have the Hey Alexa, it's just Alexa, while the others you normally have to say Hey. I have a Ecobee 4 also and it randomly goes off after hearing something the most. But I have a Amazon Dot second generation when goes off the 2nd most. I actually have a 3rd generation I'll get Tomorrow. For $30, why not. I also have a Google Mini I got a year ago. I get these things when they're $30 a pop. It allows me to play with Google Home, Alexa and Siri and personally compare. Siri really gets a bad rap when it no longer should these days.
I'm also a growing Homekit house.
maybe time for you to go switch to dot....hehe
If you have an inkling of what's required to do what Siri or Alexa do based on having done some of it manually, you'd probably share my appreciation for what Apple's and Amazon's (and Google's and Shazam's) engineers have been able to accomplish up to this point. The fact that they do it as quickly and accurately as they do is commendable, especially in light of the wide variability of speech patterns that exist. Understanding a Boston, New York, New Orleans, or Chicago accent or just about any English as a second language (ESL) speaker, with various inflection and pitch, and different pace and cadence takes a lot of processing power. To be effective it has to be near instantaneous or else the requestor will give up.
None of these systems are perfect and will ever be perfect in our lifetime, but they are all heading in the right direction and are pretty damn good already. I use both Siri and Alexa daily and they are both earning their keep and only getting better over time. Yeah, Siri on the HomePod has a more limited scope than Alexa on the Echo, but I like both of them and the potential is there for adding much more to their capabilities than what we experience with them today.
Glass half-full for me.
What's weird is that the HomePod used to respond every time if I said, 'Hey Sara', but I just tried it, and now it doesn't.
Odd.
If you're using Alexa's key phrase then it isn't Google's fault, strictly or otherwise, is it?
Or have I got that wrong?