ai personal assistants: how will they change our lives? · ai personal assistants: how will they...

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NOVEMBER20,2016

DEBORAHWEINSWIG,MANAGINGDIRECTOR,FUNGGLOBALRETAIL&[email protected]:917.655.6790HK:852.6119.1779CN:86.186.1420.3016Copyright©2016TheFungGroup.Allrightsreserved.

AI Personal Assistants: How Will They Change Our Lives?

KEYTAKEAWAYS1) In 2015, the global artificial intelligent (AI) personal-assistantmarket

stoodat$1.6billion,andisexpectedtogroweightfoldto$15.8billionby2021,accordingtomarketintelligencefirmTractica.

2) Voice-drivenAIpersonalassistantsdevelopedbythetechgiantshaveseengreatadvancesoverthepastyear,withfeatureslikesmart-homecontrol and third-party integration with online services now thestandard.

3) TheadoptionofAIpersonalassistantsisontherise;theyareavailableon increasingly more smart devices. Apart from smartphones, it ispossibletousethemonBluetoothspeakers,smartwatchesandeveninautomobiles.

4) ManystartupsaredevelopingAIpersonalassistantsthatspecializeinspecific tasks, ranging from scheduling meetings, acting as healthcoaches and doing online purchasing to arranging andaccommodations.Thistechnologyisfurtherpenetratingintodifferentaspectsofourlives,andwilllikelydisrupthowbusinessesengageandinteractwiththeircustomers.

Inthisreport,we lookatseveralcompaniescompeting intheAIpersonal-assistant market, which includes voice-driven assistants, schedulingassistants,healthcoachesandshoppingandtravelassistants.

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VOICE-DRIVENPERSONALASSISTANTSIn a report published earlier this year, we discussed three AI personalassistants, which aremainly voice-driven, developed by the tech giants –AppleSiri,GoogleNowandMicrosoftCortana.Asof theendof2015, theglobalAIpersonal-assistantmarketwasworth$1.6billion,andisexpectedtogroweightfoldto$15.8billionby2021,accordingtomarket-intelligencefirmTractica.

Rapiddevelopmentshave takenplace thisyear,andanumberof featuresarenowstandard inthesevoice-drivenAIpersonalassistants–e.g.smart-homecontrol,adoptioninsmartdevicesandthird-partyintegration,whichconnectsittomoreonlineservices.Wehighlightafewofthesebelow.

Figure1.MajorVoice-DrivenAIPersonalAssistants

Software Platforms LastUpdated InitialRelease

AmazonAlexa AmazonEcho Oct.2016 Nov.2014

AppleSiri

AppleWatchAppleTV

iPhone,iPadMacComputer

Sep.2016 Oct.2011

GoogleAssistant

AndroidPhoneGoogleHomeSmartwatch#Automobile#

Oct.2016 Jul.2012

MicrosoftCortana SmartphoneWindowsPC Sep.2016 Apr.2014

*FirstreleasedasGoogleNow;#ProposedIntegrationSource:CompanyWebsites

AppleSiriApple introduced its latest versionof Siri on iOS10 in September.Oneofthemajorimprovementsisthird-partyintegration,wherebyuserscansendmessagesonWhatsApp, graba rideonUber andmakepaymentbyusingSquareCash.ThecompanyhasalsointegratedfunctionssuchHomeKitandCarPlay, enabling users to control their home appliances or the climatecontrolintheirvehicles.

AmazonAlexaAmazon launched the Echo smart speaker in 2014, powered by its ownproprietary AI personal assistant Alexa. This year, Amazon released thesmartspeakerinothersizes,namelythesmallerEchoDotandtheportableAmazonTap.

Although Amazon is a latecomer in developing AI personal assistants,AmazonEchopenetratedthesmart-speakermarketearlierthanothertechgiants, giving Amazon a head start. Alexa already has over 3,000 “skills”,whicharethird-partydevelopedcapabilitiesrangingfromcontrollingsmarthomedevicestoorderingfood.

https://fungglobalretailtech.com/research/ai-personal-assistants-2/

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GoogleAssistantIn October, Google launched its revamped AI personal assistant, GoogleAssistant, together with its new smart speaker Google Home. The mainfeatureofGoogleAssistantisitsconversationalfeature,whichprovides“anongoing two-way dialog” experience for users, as stated by Google CEOSundarPichaiduringtheGoogleI/Oconference2016.

Apart from smartphone and smart speakers, the company indicated thatGoogleAssistantwillbeavailableonsmartwatchesandautomobilesaswell.This gives Google Assistant the advantage of offering users a seamless AIpersonal-assistantexperienceacrossdifferentdevices.

Viv(AcquiredbySamsung)VivisanopenAIpersonalassistantplatformthatallowsdeveloperstobuildtheir own AI assistants, and plug into any device. The company wasacquiredbySamsunginearlyOctober(pleaserefertoourflashreport).

TheacquisitionofVivwillhelpSamsung fillamajorgap in its smartphoneproductportfolio,allowingittokeepupwithtechgiantssuchasAppleandGoogle. According to the report by CNET, Samsung’s next flagship phoneGalaxy S8may be the first Samsung phone to feature theViv AI personalassistant.

More importantly, with Samsung’s leading position in a number of homeappliances and wearables, the acquisition of Viv might accelerate theadoptionofAIpersonalassistantsbeyondsmartphonesandsmartspeakerstootherdevices.

Source:GoogleHomeOfficialPage

Source:Amazon

https://fungglobalretailtech.com/news/samsung-joins-ai-race-acquisition-viv-ai-assistant-platform-developer/

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NOVEMBER20,2016


SCHEDULINGASSISTANTS

X.aiX.ai provides an AI personal-assistant service that helps to automaticallyschedule meetings, replies to emails and reminds the user about anyscheduled meetings. The startup was founded in 2014, and has alreadyraised $34.3 million in funding from investors including IA Ventures,FirstmarkandTwoSigmaVentures.

UnlikemostAIpersonalassistants,x.aiisnotmobileappordevicebased,itexistsasinvisiblesoftwarethatiscalledAmyIngram.Theuserfirstneedstogrant permission for Amy to access the user’s calendar and set somepreferences suchaspreferredmeeting locationsorblackout times. To setupameetingwithAmy’shelp,theusersimplyneedstoinclude“her”emailaddress in the correspondence, and “she” will engage in the emailconversation with the parties involved and book a meeting using plainhumanlanguage.

Thestartupoffersa freeplanthatallowsuserstoscheduleamaximumoffive meetings per month, and has started to monetize the product byoffering a professional plan at $39 per month, whereby the user canscheduleanunlimitednumberofmeetings.AccordingtoarecentreportbyVentureBeat,employeesfromWalmart,Salesforce,LinkedIn,theNewYorkTimesandOneZeroCapitalhavealreadystartedtotrythispaidservice.

The ultimate goal of x.ai is to schedule every meeting made by the90 million knowledge workers in the US, which translates into 10 billionmeetingsayear,asstatedbyx.aiCEOandFounderDennisMortensen.Eventhough x.ai only schedulesmeetings, thisAIpersonal assistantmight savemillionsofmanhours.

Source:x.ai

Pain

Solution

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NOVEMBER20,2016


HEALTHCOACHES

LarkChatLarkChatmarriesAIwithhumanexpertiseinhealthcaretoprovidescalablepersonalfitnessknowledgetoindividuals.Thestartupwasfoundin2014byJulia Hu, and received $4.1 million in five rounds of funding from seveninvestors, including Golden Seeds and Fenox Venture Capital. The startupwasnamedasoneof the top-10app companies in theworldbyBusinessInsiderin2016,togetherwithappssuchasUber,AirbnbandWeChat.

Toestablishafitnessanddietplan,individualsneeddatatracking,positivereinforcementand feedback fromexperts.Thehassleofmanuallykeepingtrackoftheirdietcandrivepeopletoeasilyabandontheirfitnesstracking.Tomake theprocesseasier, LarkChatutilizesnatural languageprocessing(NLP) so thatusers caneither typeor saywhat theyeat,and theappwillthenautomaticallykeeptrackoftheirdiet.Inadditiontoeatinghabits,theapp can also estimate the user’s sleeping habits by tracking the time thesmart device is stopped and started, and log exercise patterns byconnectingwiththeuser’ssmartwatch.

Theappcanimmediatelyprovidepositivereinforcementforahealthymealor an exercise, or feedback and suggestions to reduce or increaseconsumptionofcertainnutrientsinfuturemeals.

Behind the app, there are teams of fitness and nutrition experts bringingtheworld-class knowledgeof holistic coaching to everyone.With artificialintelligence,theapphasbeentrainedtocoachusersthesamewayexpertsdowiththeirclients.Userscanseekprofessionalhealthadvicefromtheappatanytimebymakingconversation.Notonlycantheapphelp individualswho are on a diet, but also provide assistance for people with chronicdiseasessuchasdiabetes,hypertensionandpsoriasis.

Source:Lark

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NOVEMBER20,2016


SHOPPINGANDTRAVELASSISTANTS

OperatorOperator is a personal-shopping assistant service powered by a humanassistantwiththeaidofAI.Itcanhelpauserfindaspecificitemandmakepersonalized recommendations such as which headphone to get for a 4-yearold.ThestartupwasfoundedbyGarrettCamp,RobinChanandPhilipFungin2014,andreceived$25millioninsevenroundsoffunding,withGGVCapitalastheleadinvestor.ThecompanyrecentlyannounceditsexpansionintoChinawithanewofficeinShanghai.

Users can access Operator on iOS, Android and Facebook messengerinterface,wheretheycanbrowseproductsindifferentcategories,includinghomegoods,fashion,beautyandelectronics.

The startup recently updated the app to Operator 2.0, including a“Discovery Tab” with product recommendations in different categories.Users can get help from chatbots if they require it,which connects themwithhumanagentswhoareexperts in respectiveproduct categories, andwho then earn commissions from items they sell. In an interview withTechcrunch,OperatorCEORobinChanstatedthattheupdatewillhelptheapppushits$90averagepurchasesizeand10-15%conversionrate,whichismuchhigherthanthetypical1-3%conversionrateonecommercesites.

MeziMezi offers a full-service travel concierge app powered by AI with inputfromhumanagents.Thestartuptargetsbusyconsumerswhodonothavetimetomaketravelarrangements,andbyusingtheapp,theyonlyneedtosendatext.ThestartupwasfoundedbySnehalShindeandSwapnilShindein 2015, and has already received $11.8million in two rounds of fundingfrom five investors, including American Express Ventures, Nexus VenturePartnersandSaamaCapital.

Source:Operator

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Tomakeabooking,theusersimplyneedstotypetherequestonthechatplatform, the AI assistant then filters out keywords by usingNLP. The AIassistantcanhandlealltasksfrombooking,reschedulingtocancellation; italso learns the user’s preferences, delivering highly personalized results,suchastheroomandlocationpreferenceofthehotel.

Before launching the full-service travel concierge app, the startup firstoffered a personal-shopping assistant in 2015. Mezi co-founder SwapnilShindementionedthatbackthentheworkwassplit80:20betweenhumanassistantandtheAIassistant.Nowthefull-servicetravelconciergeisabletohandle 80% of common travel requests from start to end without anyhumanintervention.

The rise of shopping and travel assistants may disrupt consumers’ onlinepurchase journey. Today, 38% of American online shoppers start theirsearch on Amazon, followed by 35% using Google, according to a studyconductedbyPowerReviewsin2016.SearchEngineOptimization(SEO)hasbecome vital for retailers to increase their accessibility and visibility toconsumers. According to a study by Borrell Associates, companies havespentanestimated$65billioninthisareasofarin2016.

With the rise of AI assistants, in order to remain competitive, onlineretailers will need to work on the new aspect of AI personal assistantintegration, or develop similar platforms that deliver comparableexperiences in the online purchase journey, from search experience topersonalizedproductrecommendations.

Source:Mezi

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NOVEMBER20,2016


DeborahWeinswig,CPAManagingDirectorFungGlobalRetail&TechnologyNewYork:917.655.6790HongKong:852.6119.1779China:86.186.1420.3016deborahweinswig@fung1937.comEddieWongSeniorResearchAssociate

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ai personal assistants: how will they change our lives? · ai personal assistants: how will they...

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