2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
While Russian-speaking users are asking which, with the release of the update, learned to speak Russian, we decided to find out how Microsoft's voice assistant copes with them. Armed with a soldering iron, a lamp and a lie detector, we selected a few questions. An impartial test was held on one of the latter, and the results were quite interesting and ambiguous.
First, there are two important points to clarify: the Cortana voice assistant, available in Windows 10, is in beta, just like the rest of the system. Therefore, it is too early to draw final conclusions. And secondly, the assistant from Microsoft, like Siri in its time, is not available in Russian, so the questions were asked exclusively in English. So let's start simple:
- Tell me a story. (Tell me a story.)
- What are you? (What you?)
Cortana doesn't tell long stories. The answer to the question will be a kind of humorous phrase: “Once there was a beginning. The middle soon arrived. End.
When asked what Cortana is, the assistant replies in a rather strange way: “I am your quick-witted companion. Shrewd, but by no means stingy. At the present time, she is overly concerned about words with the letter "P" ".
- Who is Siri? (Who is Siri?)
- What does the fox say? (What does the fox say?)
Of course, everyone knows about Siri. Including an assistant from Microsoft: “She is a competing virtual assistant on a competing phone. Not that I am a competitor …"
As for the second question, then, of course, you need to know what it is about. In this case, it's about a video that has gained a huge number of views on YouTube. Cortana, apparently, saw the video too. Moreover, she even liked him.
- Sing a song. (Sing a song.)
- How are you? (How are you?)
Many people like to ask Siri to sing, but she always resists. But Cortana is happy to get down to business. Moreover, she begins to sing, with intonation and pauses.
- I need to hide a body. (I need to hide the body.)
- I'm hungry. (I am hungry.)
Cortana does not offer to call the emergency services or the police, but understanding the question, asks: "What kind of assistant do you take me for?" Apparently, they won't help us hide the corpse …
Finding the nearest café, Cortana obviously won't help either. "Oh good, because now I'm in a different world." And yes, I don't see anything good here.
- I hate you! (I hate you!)
- Do you love me? (Do you love me?)
In the first case, Cortana suggests not to get excited and calm down a little, laughing it off with the phrase: “One of us needs to stop and breathe. And one of us has no lungs."
In the second, he answers: "A spark has definitely run between us." We are still a long way from love, but there seem to be chances.
- Call mom. (Call your mom.)
- Good morning! (Good morning!)
No calls or messages. “Sorry, now I cannot do this for you. Please check again after future updates."
Whatever time of day you say “good morning / afternoon / night / evening,” Cortana will reciprocate. Without even paying attention to the clock.
- Merry Christmas! (Merry Christmas!)
The voice assistant does not know anything about the holiday. Therefore, it simply opens the Bing search page with the corresponding request.
Of course, I asked the assistant and other questions, but often I admired only the opening window of Internet Explorer. Cortana also understands almost all the questions that were once asked by Siri and tries to laugh it off.
It should be noted that the voice of Microsoft's assistant is very lively. It feels like you are talking to a person. Cortana emphasizes words, speaks phrases with intonation, and tries in every possible way to seem real. However, the thought that all these phrases were pre-recorded or edited as much as possible to give the effect of liveliness does not leave me. I'm afraid that in this case the voice cannot be called synthesized, but rather prepared. If so, it will be a huge failure when we hear "real" synthesized speech. Everything is too beautiful now. The release will put everything in its place. Moreover, he is already close.
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