Adam Cheyer Co-founder of Siri and Viv Labs on Assistants, AI, and ChatGPT - Voicebot Podcast Ep 324

My guest today is a giant in the world of voice assistants and
AI. Adam Cheyer is the co-founder of Siri, which was originally
an app that, as you know, was acquired by Apple and launched as
the key feature of the iPhone 4s in 2011. That is how Siri came
to define expectations for modern-day voice assistants.


 


However, Cheyer and one of his Siri cofounders Dag Kittlaus, were
disappointed that Apple decided to dramatically narrow the scope
of the assistant to better align with its goal of making Siri a
feature of the iPhone as opposed to a general purpose assistant.


 



Cheyer and Kittlaus founded Viv Labs, which eventually sold to
Samsung and, after a few years, became the technology behind
the new Bixby after Samsung's initial voice assistant flopped.
A key part of the story here is that Cheyer was the visionary
behind 50% of the four leading voice assistants to emerge over
the past 15 years. You can imagine that gives him unique
insights into what is happening today with the rise of
generative AI and ChatGPT in particular.


 



Cheyer and I speak at length about his initial reaction to
ChatGPT, what he thinks OpenAI got right, and foreshadows an
emerging issue about how the company applies Plugins. 

 


In addition, you will want to hear more about Cheyer's four
critical elements for an assistant and the difference
between a knowing and doing assistant. This creates a stark
contrast between ChatGPT and Alexa. Sit back and get ready
for some gems of insight.