Smart speaker

A smart speaker is a type of speaker 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, Bluetooth 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.

"Smart display" redirects here. For the touchscreen computer project by Microsoft, see Smart Display. For smart television displays, see Smart TV.

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.[2]

A smart speaker with a touchscreen is known as a smart display.[3][4] It is a smart Bluetooth 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 Show, Amazon Echo Spot).

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 2 and 20 percent discrepancy for the latter.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8][9] Further, an analysis of Amazon Alexa Echo Dots showed that 30–38% of "spurious audio recordings were human conversations", suggesting that these devices capture audio otherwise than strictly after detection of the hot word.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]

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.[7]

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]

Virtual assistant Owned by Devices No. of users Languages (dialects) Notes
Alice Yandex
  • 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 Yandex Station went on sale in July 2018
AliGenie Alibaba Group Chinese Went on sale in August 2017
Amazon Alexa Amazon 31 million Echo devices in U.S. (January 2018)[16] 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]
Siri Apple, Inc. Apple HomePod 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[19]
DuerOS Open Platform[20] Baidu Xiaoyu, RavenH, Aladdin ceiling-mounted smart speaker-lamp-projector[21][22] Chinese Xiaoyu went on sale in spring 2017.[20]
Clova Naver Corporation, Line Corporation Japanese and Korean Introduced summer 2017[23]
Google Assistant Google Google Home series: Home, Home Max, Home Mini, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max 14 million Google Homes in U.S. (January 2018)[16] 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[24][19]
Beijing LingLong, part of JD DingDong Mandarin and Cantonese for Greater China In cooperation with Chinese AI firm iFlytek. Went on sale November 2016.[25]
Marusia Mail.Ru Group Capsula Russian
Microsoft Cortana Microsoft Harman Kardon INVOKE October 2019: English (US, UK, Canada, Australia and India); Chinese (Simplified); French; German; Italian; Japanese; Portuguese (Brazil); Spanish (Spain and Mexico)[26]
Safety Labs Sirona Safety Labs Inc Sirona.TV English (US, UK, Canada, Australia and India);
Xiaowei[20] Tencent forthcoming[20] Chinese
Bixby Samsung Electronics Galaxy Home [27]
Hallo Magenta Deutsche Telekom Hallo Magenta German

References
  1. smart speaker, techtarget.com, May 2017
  2. The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, Fall-Winter 2017 (PDF)
  3. Brown, Rich. "Echo Show, Nest Hub, Facebook Portal and more: How to pick the best smart display in 2019". CNET. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  4. Faulkner, Cameron (9 October 2018). "How Google's new Home Hub compares to the Echo Show and Facebook Portal". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  5. Metz, Cade (2020-03-23). "There Is a Racial Divide in Speech-Recognition Systems, Researchers Say". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  6. Bajorek, Joan Palmiter (2019-05-10). "Voice Recognition Still Has Significant Race and Gender Biases". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  7. Lau, Josephine; Zimmerman, Benjamin; Schaub, Florian (1 November 2018). "Alexa, Are You Listening?: Privacy Perceptions, Concerns and Privacy-seeking Behaviors with Smart Speakers". Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 2 (CSCW): 102:1–102:31. doi:10.1145/3274371.
  8. "Amazon hands over Echo 'murder' data". 7 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2019 – via www.BBC.com.
  9. "Amazon patents 'voice-sniffing' algorithms". 11 April 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2019 – via www.BBC.com.
  10. Ford, Marcia, and William Palmer. "Alexa, are you listening to me? An analysis of Alexa voice service network traffic." Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (2018): 1-13.
  11. Greenberg, Andy (1 August 2017). "A Hacker Turned an Amazon Echo Into a 'Wiretap'". Retrieved 2 March 2019 – via www.wired.com.
  12. Sarah Mennicken and Elaine M. Huang. 2012. Hacking the Natural Habitat: An In-the-Wild Study of Smart Homes,Their Development, and the People Who Live in Them. In Pervasive Computing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 143–160.
  13. Christoffer Lambertsson. 2017. Expectations of Privacy in Voice Interaction–A Look at Voice Controlled Bank Transactions. Ph.D. Dissertation. KTH Royal Institute of Technology
  14. Rao, Sonia (12 September 2018) "In today's homes, consumers are willing to sacrifice privacy for convenience". Retrieved 25 February 2019
  15. Lasers can silently issue 'voice commands' to your smart speakers
  16. Bishop, Todd (January 26, 2018). "New data: Google Home faring better against Amazon Echo, grabbing 40% of U.S. holiday sales". GeekWire. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  17. "AVS for International". developer.amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  18. "THE YEAR ALEXA GREW UP". www.wired.com. Wired. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  19. "Language Support in Voice Assistants Compared". Globalme. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  20. Horwitz, Josh. "China's tech giants are racing to popularize their versions of the Amazon Echo".
  21. "Baidu launches three new smart speakers that don't need Alexa or Google Assistant".
  22. Bonnington, Christina (16 November 2017). "Baidu's New Smart Speaker Looks Like Nothing Else on the Market" – via Slate.
  23. "LINE to Introduce Clova Virtual Assistant for Korea and Japan - Voicebot". www.voicebot.ai.
  24. "Change your Google Assistant language". Google Home Help. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  25. Bateman, Joshua D. (22 November 2016). "Behold China's Answer to Amazon Echo: The LingLong DingDong". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  26. "Cortana's regions and languages". support.microsoft.com. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  27. Ingraham, Nathan (9 August 2018). "Does Samsung's Galaxy Home stand a chance?". Engadget. Oath Inc. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
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