蘋果曾在其產品發布會上公布過一些產品數據。其中有一條是關于Siri的使用率：這款虛擬語音助手每周收到的請求多達10億條。

毫無疑問，這一數字令人印象深刻，不過這并不意味著這款虛擬助手，或是它的任何競爭對手，獲得了真正的成功。部分原因在于，許多用戶在日常生活中不需要依賴蘋果的Siri，更不用說微軟的Cortana或是谷歌的語音搜索了。幾年前的一項調查甚至發現，85%的iPhone用戶從未用過Siri。最重要的是，語音助手的功能看起來并不像它們應有的那樣強大。

分析師杰夫?卡干表示：“這些技術仍處在早期發展階段，老實說，它們犯錯的次數多于正確的次數。它們不能理解用戶提出的問題，也無法給出正確的答案。”無論是Google Now理解不了用戶的口音，還是Siri會提供一長列搜索結果讓你自己去看手機，使用語音搜索或是走其他捷徑總是不能輕松如愿。

蘋果、谷歌和微軟這樣的巨頭仍然在完善他們的產品，但這一事實阻止不了其他公司帶著自己的助手類技術加入戰局。例如，亞馬遜就在Echo和新的Fire TV機頂盒中植入了Alexa語音助手，用戶只要說出口令，就能搜尋節目，控制播放。Facebook也不甘落后，他們另辟蹊徑，推出了一個機制完全不同的語音助手M。該公司雇傭真人給Messenger用戶推薦餐廳或提供更多服務。

語音指令的支持顯然十分重要，這不僅僅是因為它能提供更好的用戶體驗，還能讓蘋果和谷歌等軟件制造商通過自身的應用提供信息，它同時還能收集更多關于用戶行為和興趣的數據。但目前還不清楚，語音控制究竟得花多久時間才能變得足夠智能，以應對拋給它們的任何問題或指令。

語音助手在汽車上找到了用武之地，蘋果的Siri已經植入了寶馬、雪佛蘭等車型。考慮到這類功能（包括搜索、車內控制等）可以解放雙手，從而提高駕駛安全性，該領域有助于推動技術進步。但需要指出的是，有研究發現語音助手也會讓駕駛者在路上分心。盡管如此，iPhone、安卓手機或是Windows Phone即便沒有對應的語音助手，也有著強大的功能，但是在汽車里，車載Siri等語音助手是讓駕駛員保持互聯的必不可少的工具。

道路是曲折的，但卡干認為語音助手能夠站穩腳跟。他說：“等到將來回想起今天的情景時，我們的表情估計會像我們現在嘲笑開著第一代福特Model T在路上費力前行的曾祖父母一樣。”（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

審校：任文科

At Apple’s product announcement event, the company revealed some product stats. Among the numbers shared was this tidbit on Siri usage: The virtual voice assistant receives a whopping one billion requests a week.

It’s an impressive number, no doubt, but it doesn’t mean that the virtual assistant—or any of its competitors—is a true success yet. That’s partly because many users don’t need to rely on Apple’s Siri (not to mention Microsoft’s Cortana or Google voice-based search) on a daily basis—a survey a few years back even found that 85% of iPhone users had never even used Siri. More than anything, though, voice assistants still don’t seem to work as well as they should.

“[These technologies] are still in their very early growth and frankly get more wrong than right,” says analyst Jeff Kagan. “They don’t understand the questions and don’t provide the right answers more times than not.” Whether it’s Google Now not understanding a speaker’s accent or Siri providing a list of search results that requires you to look at your phone, the process of using voice for search and other shortcuts simply isn’t seamless.

The fact that heavyweights like Apple, Google, and Microsoft MSFT 0.50% are still perfecting their products hasn’t dissuaded other companies entering the fray with their own assistant-like technologies. Amazon AMZN 1.87% , for instance, has built its Alexa voice assistant into products such as the Echo speaker and its new Fire TV box, letting users find content and control playback with spoken commands. And then there’s Facebook, which offers a completely different take on the virtual assistant with its M service, employing humans to suggest restaurants and more from within the Messenger app.

Integrating support for voice commands is clearly important, both because it provides a better user experience and it enables software makers like Apple AAPL -1.12% and Google GOOG 1.89% to serve up information via its own applications, all the while gathering more information about your behaviors and interests. But what’s less clear is how soon these voice controls will become smart enough to handle any question or command that’s thrown at them.

Voice assistants have already found a footing in cars, with Apple’s Siri integrated into models from BMW, Chevy, and more. Considering the positive safety implications of a hands-free system for search, in-car controls and more, this space could help expedite an improvement in the technology—though it’s worth pointing out that voice assistants have been found to be increase distraction on the road as well. Still, an iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone is a plenty capable device even without its respective voice assistant, but in the car Siri and others can serve an essential role in keeping users connected.

But despite bumps in the road, Kagan suggests that voice assistants are here to stay: “Today is the day we will someday look back at and laugh at the same way we do when we think about our great-grandparents struggling with their first Ford Model T,” says Kagan.