The Brains Behind Siri Have Created A Virtual Personal Assistant For Businesses
Siri is set to go into enterprise – well, sort of. Because SRI International – the non-profit research “powerhouse” famous for developing Siri, Apple’s personal assistant software – has created a similar piece of A.I. aimed at businesses.
Announced in a recent press release (via Re/code), the new service, called Kasisto, “aims to improve the consumer experience on mobile devices through intelligent conversation,” according to SRI.
Noting that Siri, also an SRI International spin-off, was the first piece of mobile A.I. software to truly popularize the idea of conversing with a virtual personal assistant, the press release explains:
Kasisto takes mobile conversation to the next level, enabling consumers to perform complex tasks, which often require deep domain knowledge and human interaction, on a mobile device. The Kasisto conversational artificial intelligence platform allows enterprises to rapidly and cost-effectively integrate branded conversational virtual personal assistants into their mobile applications.
Norman Winarsky, Ph.D., vice president, SRI Ventures, said: “Virtual personal assistant technology has revolutionized consumer interaction with mobile devices. Now consumers expect a more human-like experience when interacting online. Kasisto represents a new user experience – one that is context aware, personalized, and more effective.”
BBVA, the multinational banking group, is one of Kasisto’s first customers, and the product was unveiled officially at the FinTech Innovation Lab Demo Day in New York City, which took place yesterday, June 26.
Promising a robust software development kit (SDK), SRI notes that Kasisto can be easily integrated within existing mobile apps, and that the process of adding virtual assistant capabilities to mobile software takes “days or weeks instead of months – and at a fraction of the cost of solutions currently on the market.”
It’ll definitely be interesting to see how this Siri-sibling develops over the coming months. We’ll keep you updated with further information as we receive it.
In the meantime, see: Disney’s Squish: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Lets Kids Sculpt Crazy Clay Creations, It’s Good To Be Bad In The New Tower Defense Game Evil Defenders, and DeNA Unveils Go Go Ghost, A New Mission-Based Side-Scrolling Auto-Runner.
