Apple's Siri reign is about to be threatened. The artificial intelligence assistant Viv will be launching officially on Monday. All eyes are on the start-up, Viv Labs, as they attested to a larger-than-life concept for AI assistants and that is expected to be showcased in the highly anticipated event.
According to Engadget, Viv will arrive as an open system that will democratize access to the AI. Unlike Siri, users can expect Viv to focus its assets on the aspect of availability and non-exclusivity. The brand-new AI assistant will aim to set itself apart from Siri by being more open to other applications and having a bigger yet comprehensive "brain."
The Washington Post also reported that the faces behind Viv are former Apple employees that also helped develop Siri. In pursuit of the bigger picture post-Siri, Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham quietly devoted all their time and energy until Viv is finally ready. They first tested their intelligent technology by ordering a pizza and the AI assistant interacted rather well and even asked about how they like their toppings.
Showtime next week after 3.5 years of work. https://t.co/s0i6gfu4BX
— Dag Kittlaus (@Dagk) May 4, 2016
It was the longest wait of their lives until the pizza arrived to the victorious cheers of the team. According to Apple Insider, the main objective of Viv is to streamline users' connection to business and services without depending so much on an application. Capable of linking multiple amounts of data, its appeal will rely heavily on being an all-around artificial but intelligent assistant that can heed instructions and basically do everything for you with just one push of a button.
However, Viv is seen as just the tip of the iceberg for the bigger things planned for the complete digitalization of e-commerce through the evolution of smart technologies. Seen as a rather prolific area of technology, Silicon Valley icons such as Google and Facebook are looking to invest in the technology and buy Viv. But no official announcements are made on whether Viv Labs will pursue or sell it to the tech companies.
