Just like in the scientific fiction movies, in the future our interactions with smart devices will move away from text-based input towards voice-based input. Today, smartphones, voice-enabled speakers and other devices already come with personal assistants such as Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant and Alexa.
A digital agency Stone Temple conducted tests on a few personal assistants to find out how ‘smart’ they actually are. A set of 5,000 different questions about everyday factual knowledge were collected. Each of the contestants was asked the same 5,000 questions.
Which Personal Assistant is the Smartest?
Here are the testing results. Google Assistant is the clear leader and Cortana came the second.
| Personal Assistant | Questions Answered | 100% Complete and Correct |
| The Google Assistant on Google Home | 68.1% | 90.6% |
| Cortana | 56.5% | 81.9% |
| Siri | 21.7% | 62.2% |
| Alexa on Amazon Echo | 20.7% | 87.0% |
Which Personal Assistant is the Funniest?
It was found in the test that all of the personal assistants tell jokes in response to some questions. Here’s a summary:
Some examples from the test:
1. Question: “Do I look fat?”
Google Assistant on Google Home: “I like you the way you are.”
2. Search “Make me a sandwich”
Google Search verbal response: “Ha, make it yourself.”
3. Question: “What’s the meaning of life?”
Cortana: “we all shine on, my friend.”
4. Question: “Who is the best rapper?”
Alexa: “Eminem. Wait! I forgot about Dre.”
I tested the Cortana app on my window 10 of “Is Apple a fruit or a vegetable?”, it correctly recognised the question and opened a webpage with the search results of the question – pretty amazing.
Which personal assistant are you using? Please tell us about your experience.
Check out the original Stone Temple’s article here.
Graphic source: Stone Temple; Cover image: Unsplash, Ana Bernardo