Talk to me : Amazon, Google, Apple and the race for voice-controlled AI James Vlahos

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The next great technological disruption is coming. Each year, the titans of Silicon Valley spend millions competing to build the same device -- the world's first conversationally capable computer. Whichever company gets there soonest will turn our smartphones into our teachers, friends and lovers -- and make billions of dollars in the process. Veteran technology journalist James Vlahos has gained astonishing access to the research teams at Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple who are leading the way. In Talk to Me, he reveals the secrets of the remarkable individuals fighting in the battle for conversational computing -- from the little-known software programmers trying to chat with their laptops, right up to the CEOs of the world's leading tech companies. In the process, he reveals why hand-held artificial intelligence will revolutionise our work and social lives, exploring how conversational computers will spark the most dazzling -- and unsettling -- changes of our lifetime. Above all, Vlahos explores a single fascinating and troubling question: what happens when our computers become more articulate, more charming and more creative than we are?
The next great technological disruption is coming. The titans of Silicon Valley are racing to build the last, best computer that the world will ever need. They know that whoever successfully creates it will revolutionise our relationship with technology - and make billions of dollars in the process. They call it conversational AI. Computers that can speak and think like humans do may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but they are rapidly moving towards reality. In Talk to Me, veteran tech journalist James Vlahos meets the researchers at Google, Amazon and Apple who are leading the way to a voice computing revolution. He explores how voice tech will transform every sector of society- handing untold new powers to businesses, upending traditional notions of privacy, revolutionising access to information, and fundamentally altering the way we understand human consciousness. And he even tries to understand the significance of the revolution firsthand - by building a chatbot version of his terminally ill father. Vlahos's research leads him to one fundamental question: What happens when our computers become as articulate, compassionate, and creative as we are?
The compelling inside story of the race to build conversationally-capable computers.