Smart speaker explained

A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word" (or several "hot words"). Some smart speakers can also act as a smart device that utilizes Wi-Fi and other protocol standards to extend usage beyond audio playback, such as to control home automation devices. This can include, but is not limited to, features such as compatibility across a number of services and platforms, peer-to-peer connection through mesh networking, virtual assistants, and others. Each can have its own designated interface and features in-house, usually launched or controlled via application or home automation software.[1] Some smart speakers also include a screen to show the user a visual response.

As of winter 2017, it is estimated by NPR and Edison Research that 39 million Americans (16% of the population over 18) own a smart speaker.

A smart speaker with a touchscreen is known as a smart display.[2] [3] It is a smart device that integrates conversational user interface with display screens to augment voice interaction with images and video. They are powered by one of the common voice assistants and offer controls for smart home devices, feature streaming apps, and web browsers with touch controls for selecting content. The first smart displays were introduced in 2017 by Amazon (Amazon Echo).

Accuracy

According to a study by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America released In March 2020, the six biggest tech development companies, Amazon, Apple, Google, Yandex, IBM and Microsoft, have misidentified more words spoken by "black people" than "white people". The systems tested errors and unreadability, with a 19 and 35 percent discrepancy for the former and a 2 and 20 percent discrepancy for the latter.[4]

The North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL) also identified a discrepancy between male and female voices. According to their research, Google's speech recognition software is 13 percent more accurate for men than women. It performs better than the systems used by Bing, AT&T, and IBM.[5]

Privacy concerns

The built-in microphone in smart speakers is continuously listening for "hot words" followed by a command. However, these continuously listening microphones also raise privacy concerns among users.[6] These include what is being recorded, how the data will be used, how it will be protected, and whether it will be used for invasive advertising.[7] [8] Furthermore, an analysis of Amazon Echo Dots showed that 30–38% of "spurious audio recordings were human conversations", suggesting that these devices capture audio other than strictly detection of the hot word.[9]

As a wiretap

There are strong concerns that the ever-listening microphone of smart speakers presents a perfect candidate for wiretapping. In 2017, British security researcher Mark Barnes showed that pre-2017 Echos have exposed pins which allow for a compromised OS to be booted.[10]

Voice assistance vs privacy

While voice assistants provide a valuable service, there can be some hesitation towards using them in various social contexts, such as in public or around other users.[11] However, only more recently have users begun interacting with voice assistants through an interaction with smart speakers rather than an interaction with the phone. On the phone, most voice assistants have the option to be engaged by a physical button (e.g., Siri with a long press of the home button) rather than solely by hot word-based engagement in a smart speaker. While this distinction increases the privacy by limiting when the microphone is on, users felt that having to press a button first removed the convenience of voice interaction.[12] This trade-off is not unique to voice assistants; as more and more devices come online, there is an increasing trade-off between convenience and privacy.[13]

Factors influencing adoption

While there are many factors influencing smart speaker adoption, specifically with regards to privacy, Lau et al. define five distinct categories as pros and cons: convenience, identity as an early adopter, contributing factors, perceived lack of utility, privacy, and security concerns. Tennant et al. explored adoption using the technology acceptance model and identified factors influencing expected usefulness, ease of use, and attitudes toward smart speaker devices in the context of home care support.[14] The authors describe some of the critical challenges in designing for this context given the potential impact of the voice assistant's personality on someone's perspective of the care situation and a user's desire for intelligent support from the technology.

Security concerns

When configured without authentication, smart speakers can be activated by people other than the intended user or owner. For example, visitors to a home or office, or people in a publicly accessible area outside an open window, partial wall, or security fence, may be able to be heard by a speaker. One team demonstrated the ability to stimulate the microphones of smart speakers and smartphones through a closed window, from another building across the street, using a laser.[15]

Most popular smart speaker devices and platforms

Virtual assistantOwned byDevicesdata-sort-type="number" No. of users Languages (dialects)Notes
AliceYandex
  • Yandex Station
  • Yandex Station Mini
  • Irbis A
  • LG Xboom AI ThinQ WK7Y
  • ELARI SmartBeat
  • Prestigio Smartmate Маяк Edition
30 million Yandex devices in CIS (January 2019)Russian, TurkishYandex Station went on sale in July 2018
AliGenieAlibaba Group ChineseWent on sale in August 2017
Amazon Alexa[16] Amazon 31 million Echo devices in U.S. (January 2018)Summer 2019: English (US, UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia); French (France and Canada); German; Italian; Japanese; Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish (Spain and Mexico)[17] [18] [19]
SiriApple, Inc. Summer 2019: Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish
DuerOS Open PlatformBaiduXiaoyu, RavenH, Aladdin ceiling-mounted smart speaker-lamp-projector[20] [21] ChineseXiaoyu went on sale in spring 2017.[22]
ClovaNaver Corporation, Line Corporation Japanese and KoreanIntroduced summer 2017[23]
Google AssistantGoogleGoogle Home series

Home, Home Max, Home Mini, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Wi-Fi (point only)

14 million Google Homes in U.S. (January 2018)[24] Summer 2019: Danish, Dutch, English (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, India and Singapore), French (France and Canada), German (Austria and Germany), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Spain and Mexico) and Swedish[25]
Beijing LingLong, part of JDDingDongMandarin and Cantonese for Greater ChinaIn cooperation with Chinese AI firm iFlytek. Went on sale November 2016.[26]
Microsoft CortanaMicrosoftHarman Kardon INVOKEOctober 2019: English (US, UK, Canada, Australia and India); Chinese (Simplified); French; German; Italian; Japanese; Portuguese (Brazil); Spanish (Spain and Mexico)[27] Support for Cortana on the Harman Kardon INVOKE was officially discontinued on March 9, 2021.[28] [29]
Safety Labs SironaSafety Labs IncSirona.TVEnglish (US, UK, Canada, Australia and India);
XiaoweiTencentforthcomingChinese
BixbySamsung ElectronicsGalaxy Home[30]
Hallo MagentaDeutsche TelekomHallo MagentaGerman

See also

References

  1. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/smart-speaker smart speaker
  2. Web site: Rich. Brown. 2019-06-19. Echo Show, Nest Hub, Facebook Portal and more: How to pick the best smart display in 2019. CNET. 2019-07-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20190708002335/https://www.cnet.com/news/echo-show-nest-hub-facebook-portal-and-more-how-to-pick-the-best-smart-display-in-2019/. live.
  3. Web site: Cameron. Faulkner. 2019-06-19. How Google's new Home Hub compares to the Echo Show and Facebook Portal. 9 October 2018. The Verge. 2019-12-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20191206074303/https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/9/17956898/google-home-hub-vs-amazon-echo-show-facebook-portal-price-smart-speaker-display. live.
  4. Web site: There Is a Racial Divide in Speech-Recognition Systems, Researchers Say . Metz . Cade . 2020-03-23 . The New York Times . en-US . 2020-04-22 . 2022-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221013220941/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/technology/speech-recognition-bias-apple-amazon-google.html . live .
  5. Voice Recognition Still Has Significant Race and Gender Biases . Bajorek . Joan Palmiter . 2019-05-10 . Harvard Business Review . 2020-04-24 . 2020-04-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200425050619/https://hbr.org/2019/05/voice-recognition-still-has-significant-race-and-gender-biases . live .
  6. Alexa, Are You Listening?: Privacy Perceptions, Concerns and Privacy-seeking Behaviors with Smart Speakers. Josephine. Lau. Benjamin. Zimmerman. Florian. Schaub. 1 November 2018. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 2. CSCW. 102:1–102:31. 10.1145/3274371. 53223356.
  7. News: Amazon hands over Echo 'murder' data. BBC News . 7 March 2017. 2 March 2019. 6 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200106035858/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39191056. live.
  8. News: Amazon patents 'voice-sniffing' algorithms. BBC News . 11 April 2018. 2 March 2019. 14 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214030848/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43725708. live.
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  15. Web site: Lasers can silently issue 'voice commands' to your smart speakers . 5 November 2019 . 2019-11-06 . 2019-11-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191105100324/https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/05/lasers-voice-commands-smart-speaker/ . live .
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  18. THE YEAR ALEXA GREW UP. Wired. 23 December 2018. 14 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190714052941/https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-alexa-2018-machine-learning/. live. Barrett . Brian .
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  21. Baidu's New Smart Speaker Looks Like Nothing Else on the Market. Christina. Bonnington. 16 November 2017. Slate. 19 March 2018. 19 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180319215752/http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2017/11/baidu_smart_speaker_razor_h_is_more_interesting_than_the_amazon_echo_or.html. live.
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  23. Web site: LINE to Introduce Clova Virtual Assistant for Korea and Japan - Voicebot. www.voicebot.ai. 3 March 2017 . 2018-03-19. 2018-03-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20180319222414/https://www.voicebot.ai/2017/03/03/line-introduce-clova-virtual-assistant-korean-japan/. live.
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  27. Web site: Cortana's regions and languages . support.microsoft.com . 28 January 2020 . 22 January 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200122185325/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026948/cortanas-regions-and-languages . live .
  28. Web site: Cortana service on the Harman Kardon Invoke . 2022-05-15 . support.microsoft.com . 2022-05-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220515124518/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/cortana-service-on-the-harman-kardon-invoke-78341f15-082f-b732-d91b-440b8366f2b4 . live .
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  30. News: Does Samsung's Galaxy Home stand a chance?. Ingraham. Nathan. 9 August 2018. Engadget. 9 August 2018. Oath Inc.. 17 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180917161925/https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/09/samsung-galaxy-home-too-little-too-late/. live.

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