What do you think?
Rate this book
Talk to Me
The gripping inside story of the race to build conversationally capable computersChat with the ask your Alexa device to ‘open the voice computing book’__________________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 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 What happens when our computers become as articulate, compassionate, and creative as we are?__________________‘Brilliant and essential . . . You’ll find insights and meaning on every page, and you’ll keep turning them. This book is dynamite.’ NICHOLAS THOMPSON, editor-in-chief of Wired‘Conversational AI is a genuine paradigm shift in our experience with technology. Vlahos brings the whole story to life . . . A thoughtful and enjoyable read.’ TOM GRUBER, co-creator of Siri‘The baton of disruption has been passed from the smart phone to voice, and Vlahos helps make sense of this tectonic shift.’ SCOTT GALLOWAY, author of The Four‘Voice computing is revolutionising the way we interact with our devices. Talk to Me offers a road map showing how we got to this point and the opportunities and risks that lie ahead.’ MARTIN FORD, author of The Rise of the Robots‘James Vlahos has written an excellent book on how voice computing has become more and more of a growing presence in our everyday world.’ RAY KURZWEIL, author of The Singularity Is Near
336 pages, Hardcover
Published September 6, 2018
81 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
September 6, 2025
Really interesting and very good book on the voice recognition and AI development.
Last year I interviewed for a job (that I didn’t get) where one of the questions that was asked of me was "What technology developments do you follow"? My response was user interface. Specifically how a user interacts with computer applications and the hardware. For the last 10-12 years of my professional life, I have been working with a speech recognition interactive voice response applications. Basically the answering machines that you don't really want to talk to at all. Most callers want to talk to a human. And in the beginning you could always tell you were talking to a machine or more specifically, a recorded voice. Voice recognition was leading edge. It replace the old "for billing issues, press 1, for technical support, press 2" aka DTMF input (digital tones). Back in those days being able to say what you wanted rather than pressing a number on your telephone was huge. Voice recognition and the way that the computer application went about deciphering what you wanted based on what you said was rudimentary at best. It asked leading questions and your answer needed to be on a list of designated responses said in a way that the machine could interpret or else it could not direct you to an appropriate place. Needless to say, this is pretty antiquated by the standards of today.
Talk to me is an excellent primer for voice recognition technology and much more. The philosophy of user interface technology today is basically that voice is the most user friendly way for humans to interact with technology. It's easier to say what you are trying to do than to type it or even to point and click. Vlahos goes into detail about the state of voice technology today and where it is going and some of the pitfalls and dangers to be aware of. Speech recognition is a very small niche compared to what is going on in this day and age. Since the beginning, the idea has always been to have a machine that is conversational. The technical term is "naturally speaking". The idea behind it is to not have to lead the conversation, but to be able to engage a user in a conversation and respond accordingly. This idea is well beyond user input and goes into the realm of artificial intelligence. In order to hold a conversation with a human, the application must be able to learn and interpret. Until roughly 2015, "naturally speaking" was a concept. It's now a reality. I know people are thinking that Siri with apple has been around since 2011, but Siri back then was basically voice recognition with an extremely huge list of possible responses and action that could be taken associated with each response. In 2015 there became a new concept in coding that allowed the speech recognition app to learn using layers of various other applications to provide insight as to determining what was wanted and how to respond (this is of course a fantastically huge generalization of the complexity etc of the operation). Basically with the reality of "naturally speaking" voice recognition came the ability to use voice as a form of user interface with a computer. That created voice activated appliances that can access the internet for a variety of information and tools that can be used to make your life more bearable. Enter Cortana, Alexa and Google Assistant, along with a former leading edge now follower application, Siri. With these new applications and machines and appliances comes mo' problems. There are oodles of things but chief among them are privacy considerations or lack there of the minute you start using them. And guess what? From a behavioral study, humans that interact conversationally with a machine are far more honest and more importantly forthcoming with a machine that is taking that information and passing it on to its "master" to do whatever they want with it. It's too easy to talk to a machine. It's just as easy to forget it is there while it picks up all the conversations in the room waiting for you to say the right words to activate it. But it is still amassing data. It's a mess. Add to that the fact that to be conversational, these machines have to learn. THEY ARE LEARNING!!! Keep in mind that in the past, the military tended to promote innovative ideas as "necessity is the mother of invention". In the 21st century, consumers and the desire to create consumption is driving technology. Corporations are where the innovation is coming from. These developments aren't for the advancement of science and technology, but to drive up and commoditize consumption. Pursuit of more wealth. Honestly, we are quite far from Skynet. I don't think malevolent machines will eradicate mankind. I am in the near future far more concerned for the amount of information being collected and how it will be used in the future.
The book was a history of voice recognition and of AI technology. Vlahos lands where we are today with the personal assistant technology (Amazon and Google). Vlahos also goes into the downsides of the near future developments in the industry and the final chapter really explains how and why he is so invested in this technology. Immortality. The psychological aspects of this technology are also explored and it's fascinating (to me user interface has always been of interest. It combines the behavioral science with the technological science). You would be surprised and should be wary of how comfortable and easy it is to fall into a habit of communicating with a machine. The unintended but in my view inevitable results of so much sharing is inescapable. Privacy really is something that we are losing at breakneck speeds and we don't even notice. All for a little more ease and convenience. It was right up my geek alley. I thought the book was excellent. Ideal for both the slightly computer literate to the person that understands technology but may not work in the niche. Vlahos lays it out in simply, gives a history and the current state. He is a proponent of the technology. He doesn't want people to fear it, he wants people to be mindful of the implications but continue progressing. I agree…cautiously.
PS: There is much more to the book than what I have written. Pick this up if you have an interest in the technology or use the voice applications like Amazon Echo (Alexa) or Google Home (Assistant), or Apple (Siri), or Microsoft (Cortana), or Samsung (Bixby) or any of the ever increasing voice apps on the public internet (including facebook, twitter, instagram etc)...
4.5 Stars
Read on kindle
Last year I interviewed for a job (that I didn’t get) where one of the questions that was asked of me was "What technology developments do you follow"? My response was user interface. Specifically how a user interacts with computer applications and the hardware. For the last 10-12 years of my professional life, I have been working with a speech recognition interactive voice response applications. Basically the answering machines that you don't really want to talk to at all. Most callers want to talk to a human. And in the beginning you could always tell you were talking to a machine or more specifically, a recorded voice. Voice recognition was leading edge. It replace the old "for billing issues, press 1, for technical support, press 2" aka DTMF input (digital tones). Back in those days being able to say what you wanted rather than pressing a number on your telephone was huge. Voice recognition and the way that the computer application went about deciphering what you wanted based on what you said was rudimentary at best. It asked leading questions and your answer needed to be on a list of designated responses said in a way that the machine could interpret or else it could not direct you to an appropriate place. Needless to say, this is pretty antiquated by the standards of today.
Talk to me is an excellent primer for voice recognition technology and much more. The philosophy of user interface technology today is basically that voice is the most user friendly way for humans to interact with technology. It's easier to say what you are trying to do than to type it or even to point and click. Vlahos goes into detail about the state of voice technology today and where it is going and some of the pitfalls and dangers to be aware of. Speech recognition is a very small niche compared to what is going on in this day and age. Since the beginning, the idea has always been to have a machine that is conversational. The technical term is "naturally speaking". The idea behind it is to not have to lead the conversation, but to be able to engage a user in a conversation and respond accordingly. This idea is well beyond user input and goes into the realm of artificial intelligence. In order to hold a conversation with a human, the application must be able to learn and interpret. Until roughly 2015, "naturally speaking" was a concept. It's now a reality. I know people are thinking that Siri with apple has been around since 2011, but Siri back then was basically voice recognition with an extremely huge list of possible responses and action that could be taken associated with each response. In 2015 there became a new concept in coding that allowed the speech recognition app to learn using layers of various other applications to provide insight as to determining what was wanted and how to respond (this is of course a fantastically huge generalization of the complexity etc of the operation). Basically with the reality of "naturally speaking" voice recognition came the ability to use voice as a form of user interface with a computer. That created voice activated appliances that can access the internet for a variety of information and tools that can be used to make your life more bearable. Enter Cortana, Alexa and Google Assistant, along with a former leading edge now follower application, Siri. With these new applications and machines and appliances comes mo' problems. There are oodles of things but chief among them are privacy considerations or lack there of the minute you start using them. And guess what? From a behavioral study, humans that interact conversationally with a machine are far more honest and more importantly forthcoming with a machine that is taking that information and passing it on to its "master" to do whatever they want with it. It's too easy to talk to a machine. It's just as easy to forget it is there while it picks up all the conversations in the room waiting for you to say the right words to activate it. But it is still amassing data. It's a mess. Add to that the fact that to be conversational, these machines have to learn. THEY ARE LEARNING!!! Keep in mind that in the past, the military tended to promote innovative ideas as "necessity is the mother of invention". In the 21st century, consumers and the desire to create consumption is driving technology. Corporations are where the innovation is coming from. These developments aren't for the advancement of science and technology, but to drive up and commoditize consumption. Pursuit of more wealth. Honestly, we are quite far from Skynet. I don't think malevolent machines will eradicate mankind. I am in the near future far more concerned for the amount of information being collected and how it will be used in the future.
The book was a history of voice recognition and of AI technology. Vlahos lands where we are today with the personal assistant technology (Amazon and Google). Vlahos also goes into the downsides of the near future developments in the industry and the final chapter really explains how and why he is so invested in this technology. Immortality. The psychological aspects of this technology are also explored and it's fascinating (to me user interface has always been of interest. It combines the behavioral science with the technological science). You would be surprised and should be wary of how comfortable and easy it is to fall into a habit of communicating with a machine. The unintended but in my view inevitable results of so much sharing is inescapable. Privacy really is something that we are losing at breakneck speeds and we don't even notice. All for a little more ease and convenience. It was right up my geek alley. I thought the book was excellent. Ideal for both the slightly computer literate to the person that understands technology but may not work in the niche. Vlahos lays it out in simply, gives a history and the current state. He is a proponent of the technology. He doesn't want people to fear it, he wants people to be mindful of the implications but continue progressing. I agree…cautiously.
PS: There is much more to the book than what I have written. Pick this up if you have an interest in the technology or use the voice applications like Amazon Echo (Alexa) or Google Home (Assistant), or Apple (Siri), or Microsoft (Cortana), or Samsung (Bixby) or any of the ever increasing voice apps on the public internet (including facebook, twitter, instagram etc)...
4.5 Stars
Read on kindle
May 7, 2019
I almost universally find the more recent pop-tech books a disappointment since most authors do not seem to know more than the average reader or don’t know how to connect the pieces such that the whole is greater than the parts. This author provides a happy exception to my usual disappointment to pop-tech story telling.
This book reached beyond just telling a linear history of an interesting topic in its own right by providing a context through a past storytelling with a relevance to the now. At times I found hints of brilliance in the connections the author was telling because he was never speaking of things in isolation while always making the meaning of the bigger picture central to his story and shows why the whole sometimes can be bigger than the sum of its parts.
Meaning requires context, history, and future expectations and at first AI (artificial intelligence) was developed principally relying on an expert human knowledge based approach. The theory for improvements had been known but the computer power was lacking in order to fully leverage machines to process and understand to a sufficient degree with the exception of some low hanging fruit problems (the author talks about those problems in the book). The break through starts when machine learning, that is allowing the computer itself to educate itself through deep learning techniques such as backtracking, neural networks, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Bayesian methods, or in general any method that allows the computer code itself to learn for itself by exploiting the provided inputs from the outside into the self improving algorithm (analogous to how a human acts albeit unknowingly in most cases).
For example, and an example the author talks about, Google’s foreign language translation algorithms made the previous expert knowledge based system nearly irrelevant by developing code such that the code would describe the universe under consideration into Markov Matrices and takes all of the information within the variance-covariance matrix and extracts that information into Principal Component Vectors (just find the eigenvalues and their eigenvectors) by way of PCA and deciding what information is needed to best describe meaning for a word (within a sentence or paragraph or even a larger segment) such that actual translation from one language to another is performed most efficiently. (For the faint of heart regarding mathematics, I want to note the author never speaks in jargon, thus keeping this book highly accessible for almost all readers, but he does talk about techniques heuristically and I found it easier to speak in Jargon instead of writing even longer sentences, he doesn’t mention Markov Matrices, PCA, Bayesian, or such, except he did mention neural networks and described backtracking fairly well). Note, the vectors may not correlate to what we humans think of as meaningful. They just need to describe the universe under consideration efficiently.
The author will show how when concepts that are dynamically derived from static past information can be grouped such as in foreign language translations (or even voice recognition) can give ‘meaning’ to the chaotic order that surrounds us. This book is in sharp contrast to a book I recently read, ‘Life After Google’, by Gilder who disliked Markov Matrices (an unforgivable sin, imo) and thought intentional meaning must be known in order to have value (another unforgivable sin, imo). Gilder was epistemologically trapped by assuming an ultimate value from human existence. I don’t recommend reading his book in order to find out what I meant by that statement, btw.
This author does have interesting thoughts on AI and what it means in terms of meaning scattered throughout this book. He’ll even ask the question ‘would a conversational bot such as Alexa really give meaning to the isolated old, or children at play’ (that is not an actual quote from the book, but it is a paraphrase). Can a computer think? The real questing is ‘what is thinking’? There is a functional definition as with the Turing Test and the author talks about that at length. In a way, this book does delve into these topics indirectly.
I enjoyed this book. It is not technically presented and anyone who is vaguely interested in the topic could profit from this book. This book made me re-rate one of my books I read four years ago from three stars to five stars, ‘The Master Algorithm’, by Domingos since it provided needed insight into some of the things not explicitly mentioned in this book, and I rated it only three stars because he did not believe in the eventuality of super AI and I tend to, but I should not have let that get in the way of recommending a very good book.
This book reached beyond just telling a linear history of an interesting topic in its own right by providing a context through a past storytelling with a relevance to the now. At times I found hints of brilliance in the connections the author was telling because he was never speaking of things in isolation while always making the meaning of the bigger picture central to his story and shows why the whole sometimes can be bigger than the sum of its parts.
Meaning requires context, history, and future expectations and at first AI (artificial intelligence) was developed principally relying on an expert human knowledge based approach. The theory for improvements had been known but the computer power was lacking in order to fully leverage machines to process and understand to a sufficient degree with the exception of some low hanging fruit problems (the author talks about those problems in the book). The break through starts when machine learning, that is allowing the computer itself to educate itself through deep learning techniques such as backtracking, neural networks, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Bayesian methods, or in general any method that allows the computer code itself to learn for itself by exploiting the provided inputs from the outside into the self improving algorithm (analogous to how a human acts albeit unknowingly in most cases).
For example, and an example the author talks about, Google’s foreign language translation algorithms made the previous expert knowledge based system nearly irrelevant by developing code such that the code would describe the universe under consideration into Markov Matrices and takes all of the information within the variance-covariance matrix and extracts that information into Principal Component Vectors (just find the eigenvalues and their eigenvectors) by way of PCA and deciding what information is needed to best describe meaning for a word (within a sentence or paragraph or even a larger segment) such that actual translation from one language to another is performed most efficiently. (For the faint of heart regarding mathematics, I want to note the author never speaks in jargon, thus keeping this book highly accessible for almost all readers, but he does talk about techniques heuristically and I found it easier to speak in Jargon instead of writing even longer sentences, he doesn’t mention Markov Matrices, PCA, Bayesian, or such, except he did mention neural networks and described backtracking fairly well). Note, the vectors may not correlate to what we humans think of as meaningful. They just need to describe the universe under consideration efficiently.
The author will show how when concepts that are dynamically derived from static past information can be grouped such as in foreign language translations (or even voice recognition) can give ‘meaning’ to the chaotic order that surrounds us. This book is in sharp contrast to a book I recently read, ‘Life After Google’, by Gilder who disliked Markov Matrices (an unforgivable sin, imo) and thought intentional meaning must be known in order to have value (another unforgivable sin, imo). Gilder was epistemologically trapped by assuming an ultimate value from human existence. I don’t recommend reading his book in order to find out what I meant by that statement, btw.
This author does have interesting thoughts on AI and what it means in terms of meaning scattered throughout this book. He’ll even ask the question ‘would a conversational bot such as Alexa really give meaning to the isolated old, or children at play’ (that is not an actual quote from the book, but it is a paraphrase). Can a computer think? The real questing is ‘what is thinking’? There is a functional definition as with the Turing Test and the author talks about that at length. In a way, this book does delve into these topics indirectly.
I enjoyed this book. It is not technically presented and anyone who is vaguely interested in the topic could profit from this book. This book made me re-rate one of my books I read four years ago from three stars to five stars, ‘The Master Algorithm’, by Domingos since it provided needed insight into some of the things not explicitly mentioned in this book, and I rated it only three stars because he did not believe in the eventuality of super AI and I tend to, but I should not have let that get in the way of recommending a very good book.
February 13, 2023
Superb. Highly recommended.
March 17, 2019
Terrific exploration of the voice technology behind Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, etc.
July 2, 2020
I am a person very interested in the technology of Conversational Computing, so naturally, the book became a must-read position. After reading the book, I still consider it as such. A personal and emotional approach of the author to the Natural Language Processing appealed to me additionally, and it is an element behind a very gripping story. Nevertheless, primarily I prize the book for insightfulness of one of the branches of AI technology.
April 17, 2019
This is a must read for anyone interested in voice computing. His review of the history of voice in computing is a good introduction to the possibilities of this technology and the current state of the technology.
July 1, 2019
This book does a good job of outlining the history of voice computing technology, along with where it may be going and the potential societal issues of its expansion. It's a good book for anyone in the field to understand where we are and where we should (and should not) go.
April 28, 2019
Maybe I'm just feeling warm and fuzzy about my Google Home . . .
August 9, 2021
James explained the history and the evolvement of voice-enabled AI. The ethical side of it is a great reminder. The last chapter is what I resonates with the most. I also have an urge to test out Siri and Alexa to understand more on their ‘characters’.
Half-way through the book, I was wondering if I could make my own voice bot with voices of people I like. A great book. Thanks James.
Half-way through the book, I was wondering if I could make my own voice bot with voices of people I like. A great book. Thanks James.
April 15, 2022
Talk to me
للمؤلف: James Vlahos
الكتاب صدر في 2019 ويحكي قصة تطور اختراع عظيم وهو: أنظمة التعرف على الكلام أو 'natural language'، من الـchatbots البدائية وحتى المساعد الشخصي المُدعّم بالذكاء الاصطناعي
وشن الشركات الي اشتغلت على تطوير تقنيات التعرف على الكلام، وحتى مشاريع الذكاء الاصطناعي وتعلم الآلة المعروفة منها أو المجهولة أو التي طُمرت في التاريخ
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, Evi, Aristo, Hal, CALO, Eliza, Hello Barbie, XiaoIce, Watson ....etc
من خلال الكتاب حتعرف أن حتى تطوير تقنيات التعرف على الكلام كان للجيش الأمريكي دور فيها في بداياتها
الكتاب يسرد هلبا حقائق مثيرة، طريفة ومفاجئة أحيانا عن الشركات التي تقود في هذا المجال وكيف الشركات انتهجت طرق مختلفة لتحسين مساعداتها الشخصية
أمازون مثلا نظمت Alexa prize عشان يحثوا خريجي علوم الكمبيوتر على اخراج أفكار ريادية لتحسين نظام 'المحادثات الاجتماعية' وأيضا لاصطيادهم واصطياد أفكارهم 😄
ومعظم الشركات فتحو المجال للمطورين والشركات "طرف ثالث" إنهم يضيفو مهارات أو وظائف لمساعداتهم الذكية
Alexa has skills
Google assistant has actions
المؤلف تكلم عن الصوت 'As the New User Interface' لأنه بالتأكيد أسهل من الكتابة and more friendly ومع ذلك مازلنا بعيدين شوية عن أنه يكون واجهة تفاعلية بسبب العيوب الي في نظام التعرف على الكلام لأن الأنظمة هذه تعرف المعنى الحرفي للكلام بس وماتعرفش المعاني الاصطلاحية ولا تعرف الـsarcasim مثلا وباقي اللغويات بالرغم من الردود الي تخليك تحس أن المساعد يفهم فيك لكن في الحقيقة هو يقرأ في الكلمات المفتاحية ويرد بناء عليها بس
جيمس تكلم حتى على الجانب التقني من أنظمة المحادثة والتعرف على الكلام وكيف المهندسين يحطو في خوارزميات "قواعد" يختار بيها النظام الردود المناسبة في كل مرة
الكتاب أيضا يناقش في فصله الأخير شيء مهم جدا وقد يكون ممكن في المستقبل القريب ألا وهو:
'Digital mortality' 'الخلود الرقمي'
يعني تخيل تصب ذكريات شخص في نظام ذكاء اصطناعي قادر على إنتاج الكلام 🤯
طبعا هذا مجربينه أكثر من مرة والمؤلف نفسه قام بتجربته مع والده الي توفى حيث سجل صوته قبل ما يموت وهو يحكي قصة حياته والتجارب الي مر بيها وفرغ التسجيل وحطه في برنامج chatbot وبدا يتكلم معاه والبرنامج يرد من خلال القصة والمعلومات المفرغة فيه!
الموضوع عند هلبا ناس مرعب، وفيه الي يشوفوله مشوق، ومازال حتى التجارب الي يديروا فيها توا محدودة الإمكانيات، ونحن مازلنا ننتظر الممستقبل شن فيه
المهم الكتاب معبي كلام وأنا كان بنحكي معش نسكت 😂
قراءة ممتعة 🙏
للمؤلف: James Vlahos
الكتاب صدر في 2019 ويحكي قصة تطور اختراع عظيم وهو: أنظمة التعرف على الكلام أو 'natural language'، من الـchatbots البدائية وحتى المساعد الشخصي المُدعّم بالذكاء الاصطناعي
وشن الشركات الي اشتغلت على تطوير تقنيات التعرف على الكلام، وحتى مشاريع الذكاء الاصطناعي وتعلم الآلة المعروفة منها أو المجهولة أو التي طُمرت في التاريخ
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, Evi, Aristo, Hal, CALO, Eliza, Hello Barbie, XiaoIce, Watson ....etc
من خلال الكتاب حتعرف أن حتى تطوير تقنيات التعرف على الكلام كان للجيش الأمريكي دور فيها في بداياتها
الكتاب يسرد هلبا حقائق مثيرة، طريفة ومفاجئة أحيانا عن الشركات التي تقود في هذا المجال وكيف الشركات انتهجت طرق مختلفة لتحسين مساعداتها الشخصية
أمازون مثلا نظمت Alexa prize عشان يحثوا خريجي علوم الكمبيوتر على اخراج أفكار ريادية لتحسين نظام 'المحادثات الاجتماعية' وأيضا لاصطيادهم واصطياد أفكارهم 😄
ومعظم الشركات فتحو المجال للمطورين والشركات "طرف ثالث" إنهم يضيفو مهارات أو وظائف لمساعداتهم الذكية
Alexa has skills
Google assistant has actions
المؤلف تكلم عن الصوت 'As the New User Interface' لأنه بالتأكيد أسهل من الكتابة and more friendly ومع ذلك مازلنا بعيدين شوية عن أنه يكون واجهة تفاعلية بسبب العيوب الي في نظام التعرف على الكلام لأن الأنظمة هذه تعرف المعنى الحرفي للكلام بس وماتعرفش المعاني الاصطلاحية ولا تعرف الـsarcasim مثلا وباقي اللغويات بالرغم من الردود الي تخليك تحس أن المساعد يفهم فيك لكن في الحقيقة هو يقرأ في الكلمات المفتاحية ويرد بناء عليها بس
جيمس تكلم حتى على الجانب التقني من أنظمة المحادثة والتعرف على الكلام وكيف المهندسين يحطو في خوارزميات "قواعد" يختار بيها النظام الردود المناسبة في كل مرة
الكتاب أيضا يناقش في فصله الأخير شيء مهم جدا وقد يكون ممكن في المستقبل القريب ألا وهو:
'Digital mortality' 'الخلود الرقمي'
يعني تخيل تصب ذكريات شخص في نظام ذكاء اصطناعي قادر على إنتاج الكلام 🤯
طبعا هذا مجربينه أكثر من مرة والمؤلف نفسه قام بتجربته مع والده الي توفى حيث سجل صوته قبل ما يموت وهو يحكي قصة حياته والتجارب الي مر بيها وفرغ التسجيل وحطه في برنامج chatbot وبدا يتكلم معاه والبرنامج يرد من خلال القصة والمعلومات المفرغة فيه!
الموضوع عند هلبا ناس مرعب، وفيه الي يشوفوله مشوق، ومازال حتى التجارب الي يديروا فيها توا محدودة الإمكانيات، ونحن مازلنا ننتظر الممستقبل شن فيه
المهم الكتاب معبي كلام وأنا كان بنحكي معش نسكت 😂
قراءة ممتعة 🙏
November 5, 2019
Píše se rok 2015 a všechny celebrity od Madonny až po Justina Biebra chtějí mít svého vlastního chatbota, který bude komunikovat s jejich fanouškovskou základnou. Technologické firmy zběsile hledají akviziční potenciál. Šílenství kolem botů vrcholí. V čase jsme se posunuli, šílenství ustalo, ale otázka konverzační umělé inteligence (AI) je pořád na stole.
Každá dekáda nám přinesla hráče, který ovládl trh a nastolil trendy. IBM kralovala v době velkých mainframových počítačů. Microsoft hrál prim v době stolních počítačů. Google ovládl vyhledávání na webu, Apple a Facebook pak éru mobilních zařízení. A my teď hledáme krále pro dobu „hlasovou“. Kdo to bude? Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft? To se ukáže časem.
James Vlahos se ve své knize „Mluv se mnou (Talk to me)“ nezaměřuje na zodpovězení otázky, kdo tento technologický sprint vyhrává, spíše se soustředí na psychologický a společenský dopad hlasem řízené umělé inteligence.
Celá recenze na webu FintechCowboys:
https://fintechcowboys.cz/mluv-se-mno...
Každá dekáda nám přinesla hráče, který ovládl trh a nastolil trendy. IBM kralovala v době velkých mainframových počítačů. Microsoft hrál prim v době stolních počítačů. Google ovládl vyhledávání na webu, Apple a Facebook pak éru mobilních zařízení. A my teď hledáme krále pro dobu „hlasovou“. Kdo to bude? Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft? To se ukáže časem.
James Vlahos se ve své knize „Mluv se mnou (Talk to me)“ nezaměřuje na zodpovězení otázky, kdo tento technologický sprint vyhrává, spíše se soustředí na psychologický a společenský dopad hlasem řízené umělé inteligence.
Celá recenze na webu FintechCowboys:
https://fintechcowboys.cz/mluv-se-mno...
August 19, 2019
An interesting book about the technology, design decisions, and market forces behind conversational interfaces -- including things as varied as text-based chatbots, voice-based assistants, and toys (like Barbies) that talk to users. Well-researched, though over-sells the potential of conversational interfaces (particularly in the introduction).
Would definitely recommend if you're interested in learning more about the field.
Would definitely recommend if you're interested in learning more about the field.
July 8, 2019
Really interesting look at AI & Voice recognition. This field is a lot more advanced than I thought it was and this book is an interesting read, even quite funny in parts.
May 31, 2024
An excellent book presenting a comprehensive overview of AI development over the past few decades, with emphasis on the second half of the 2010s, a period that greatly contributed to current (2024+) state-of-the-art.
The chapter "Rule Breakers" contains one of the best explanations of deep neural networks in layman's terms I have encountered. It starts with fascinating stories about the first artificial neural network created by Frank Rosenblatt in the 50s - the Mark I Perceptron, a huge, mostly mechanical machine.
I often contemplate that those early thinkers had everything figured out conceptually, they just lacked the compute power of today. Had they been able to utilize it, they would have achieved what we have now much earlier, as core principles remain vastly the same.
Author presents a myriad of curious stories, historical accounts, and personal encounters, many of which are little known facts. Did you know, for example, that Steve Jobs called the CEO of the company developing Siri 37 days in a row in order to acquire it, raising his bid with up to 10 million dollars at a time. The actual origin of the name Siri is also revealed.
A quote by Joseph Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA - possibly the first-ever chatbot - caught my attention. He had said that a short exposure to a relatively simple program can induce delusional thinking about its capabilities in normal humans. This indeed happened at a large scale during the first days of ChatGPT frenzy. Eventually, the initial hype gradually subdued.
Origin of the word boolean is also mentioned, which is closely related to one of the masterminds of contemporary AI - Geoffrey Hinton, who, it turns out, is not a man that came out of nowhere.
The book is touching on all facets of AI development and its influence on humans, specifically the evolution of interaction between man and machine and the possible emergence of a third ontological group - something that is not 100% machine and not 100% human. Overall, a must-read for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the future of today.
The chapter "Rule Breakers" contains one of the best explanations of deep neural networks in layman's terms I have encountered. It starts with fascinating stories about the first artificial neural network created by Frank Rosenblatt in the 50s - the Mark I Perceptron, a huge, mostly mechanical machine.
I often contemplate that those early thinkers had everything figured out conceptually, they just lacked the compute power of today. Had they been able to utilize it, they would have achieved what we have now much earlier, as core principles remain vastly the same.
Author presents a myriad of curious stories, historical accounts, and personal encounters, many of which are little known facts. Did you know, for example, that Steve Jobs called the CEO of the company developing Siri 37 days in a row in order to acquire it, raising his bid with up to 10 million dollars at a time. The actual origin of the name Siri is also revealed.
A quote by Joseph Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA - possibly the first-ever chatbot - caught my attention. He had said that a short exposure to a relatively simple program can induce delusional thinking about its capabilities in normal humans. This indeed happened at a large scale during the first days of ChatGPT frenzy. Eventually, the initial hype gradually subdued.
Origin of the word boolean is also mentioned, which is closely related to one of the masterminds of contemporary AI - Geoffrey Hinton, who, it turns out, is not a man that came out of nowhere.
The book is touching on all facets of AI development and its influence on humans, specifically the evolution of interaction between man and machine and the possible emergence of a third ontological group - something that is not 100% machine and not 100% human. Overall, a must-read for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the future of today.
April 27, 2020
I appreciate the effort behind this book, but in the end it's too big and too boring. Don't get me wrong, I find the topic fascinating and I do think that research and implementation of such technologies will be one of the biggest game-changers in the upcoming years. Does it mean that you need to go through 300+pages and dozens of lackluster real-life scenarios like when Siri said something funny? I don't think so. What I would enjoy much more is a fist hand knowledge and experience in the field. Too much of the book is based on interviews with protagonists of this technological revolutions such as researchers, investors, voice narrators and programmers which results in extensive account of the meeting room decoration and personal appearance. If you expect to read about cultural implications of voice-controlled AI, about it's potential benefits and dangers I would suggest skipping this one. Not only are there no author's opinions but any serious critical insights and philosophical perspective are lacking. Even the last parts of the book, which admittedly do revolve around the security vulnerabilities, are mostly shallow collections of cases easily retrievable from the Internet. In that senses this book is not much more than thesaurus-heavy biographies of Siri and Alexa. One thing that for me positively stands out is the very end of the book in which the author incorporated his personal involvement in the topic, namely his attempt to immortalize the voice and something of his late father's personality in a "dadbot" he created. Even if it doesn't make a coherent unit with the rest of the book it shows a bit more of an attempt to think through the culture-transforming potential/risk of voice computing.
May 18, 2019
Orwellian control of knowledge: “never have so few companies had so much power as the portals through which the vast majority of the world’s information flows.”
“...Would have been coveted by East German Statsi, to have an array of microphones in every room.”
Deep anatomy & origins of AI and voice communication. The theories that were inspired by the human brain.
-ASR
-NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING
-SPEECH SYNTHESIS
Contemplating eavesdropping, memorialize digital humans/soul machines, the intellectual passivity as AI answers are fed to us, LifePod, legal ramifications, smart homes.
“...Would have been coveted by East German Statsi, to have an array of microphones in every room.”
Deep anatomy & origins of AI and voice communication. The theories that were inspired by the human brain.
-ASR
-NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING
-SPEECH SYNTHESIS
Contemplating eavesdropping, memorialize digital humans/soul machines, the intellectual passivity as AI answers are fed to us, LifePod, legal ramifications, smart homes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2019
Well written overview of the history of voice AI and it's future, especially how the dominant AI will dominate purchasing recommendations as we defer to it rather than search through lists of search engine results, also how we may be able to digitise an AI version of ourselves as the author does with his father, the potential for this is extraordinary. Much food for thought. Was surprised that 5G as well as the internt of things was not explored more ie us talking to everything to tell it what to do. PLUS no answer as to why Siri is STILL so hopeless compared to Google and Alexa.
May 26, 2020
Vlahos does an excellent job laying out important considerations for the voice computing space. This space has both huge potential and huge danger; voice computing would integrate tech within our lifestyles more than it already is. Is it all right that these AI friends are artificial? Does this have implications in child development or withdrawing from social interactions? As a future physician, I definitely see the value in integrating our healthcare systems with this technology to alleviate the demands on healthcare staff - excited to see what’s to come.
January 4, 2023
Like most technology books, this book from nearly four years ago is likely out of date. There is still plenty of excellent information about the history of voice computing and where people thought it might go. I found the opening chapter annoying as it seemed like it was selling the prospects of voice computing, but the tone evened out over the book. Monetization may be an unfortunate issue that keeps talking to a computer less helpful than it could be. Vlahos doesn’t mention that directly, but appropriately believes that the big tech companies will clear the path.
February 8, 2021
James Vlahos has a profound understanding of voice computing. In this book, he demonstrates the different ways in which this novel technology will change the way we live and work.
This technological revolution along with AI will reshape the way computers and the internet is used. Vlahos explains the developments in this field to make computers more human.
An excellent read to understand how voice AI will change everyday life.
This technological revolution along with AI will reshape the way computers and the internet is used. Vlahos explains the developments in this field to make computers more human.
An excellent read to understand how voice AI will change everyday life.
February 13, 2021
This interesting and very readable book about the history of voice computing covers the main players (Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft) competing in the arena. The best parts for me were discussions about technical advances in AI and natural language generation and how neural networks are crafting original things for the computer to say based on volumes of digested human speech. I'll never think of Alexa the same way again!
June 4, 2021
Este livro dá um histórico e um panorama bem abrangente sobre o desenvolvimento e criação das maiores assistentes eletrônicas que utilizam inteligência artificial que temos hoje (alexa, google assistant, siri, etc).
Explica de forma não muito técnica (amigável para pessoas leigas) como foi o processo de construção desses chatbots, as principais dificuldades que as empresas tiveram e as estratégias utilizadas para superá-las.
Recomendo bastante para quem se interessar sobre o assunto.
Explica de forma não muito técnica (amigável para pessoas leigas) como foi o processo de construção desses chatbots, as principais dificuldades que as empresas tiveram e as estratégias utilizadas para superá-las.
Recomendo bastante para quem se interessar sobre o assunto.
February 5, 2022
Lot of interesting stories about history of chatbots, not so much about technical aspects. Bit of personal touching story when author decided to create dadbot to mimic memories and personality of his dying father. Some thoughts about controversy of voice bot and privacy issue and bit of prediction about voice assistants making search engine business obsolete.
March 21, 2024
Is a very good review of AI voice system describe it's origens and current state of the art, as well as the main competitors. Have a couple of chapters about some AI voice features that the author did. Is a good story telling. Though 1/4 of the book is used for reference and index, that could have been better used for the future of AI voice system. That's why I gave it 4 Stars.
May 3, 2019
Voice computing (think Siri and Alexa) is the biggest technological shift since the smart phone and this provocative, entertaining and compelling book tells the story of that revolution.
Is your phone listening to you at all times? When we talk to our devices, what do tech companies do with that information? How did we get from computers that filled entire rooms to a Star Trek world of devices that answer our questions as fast as we can speak to them? Can this conversational technology be used to provide a form of digital immortality for real people? If any of these questions interest or concern you, I highly recommend this amazing book.
The author illuminates this fascinating topic with clear, colorful and humorous writing while using helpful analogies to explain the more technical aspects. His descriptions of watershed moments in the quest to make our machines talk gave me a fly on the wall view of this historic change.
Though the book has some overlap with the topic of artificial intelligence, the primary focus is the paradigm shift underway in how we interact with our machines and why it matters. The earliest computers required paper punch cards to understand our instructions. Now computer mice, keyboards and touch screens are ubiquitous.
Using speech alone to control technology is becoming the new standard and will change how we use everything – not just computers and phones but cars, TVs and yes, even refrigerators! The tech giants have all realized how high the stakes are, spending vast sums to become the dominant player in voice computing. The losers risk going the way of IBM. Consumers will face new and often unseen challenges. We will need to balance new conveniences with new threats to our privacy and independence from enormous tech companies.
Whether you have an Alexa in every room of your house or still check the weather report in the newspaper, this technology is here and has significant implications for all of us. This book helped me make sense of a very interesting, complex and important story that I hadn’t thought much about but need to - Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft certainly are.
For a serious book, I found it an enjoyable, easy read with superlative writing. I am looking forward to more from this author!
Is your phone listening to you at all times? When we talk to our devices, what do tech companies do with that information? How did we get from computers that filled entire rooms to a Star Trek world of devices that answer our questions as fast as we can speak to them? Can this conversational technology be used to provide a form of digital immortality for real people? If any of these questions interest or concern you, I highly recommend this amazing book.
The author illuminates this fascinating topic with clear, colorful and humorous writing while using helpful analogies to explain the more technical aspects. His descriptions of watershed moments in the quest to make our machines talk gave me a fly on the wall view of this historic change.
Though the book has some overlap with the topic of artificial intelligence, the primary focus is the paradigm shift underway in how we interact with our machines and why it matters. The earliest computers required paper punch cards to understand our instructions. Now computer mice, keyboards and touch screens are ubiquitous.
Using speech alone to control technology is becoming the new standard and will change how we use everything – not just computers and phones but cars, TVs and yes, even refrigerators! The tech giants have all realized how high the stakes are, spending vast sums to become the dominant player in voice computing. The losers risk going the way of IBM. Consumers will face new and often unseen challenges. We will need to balance new conveniences with new threats to our privacy and independence from enormous tech companies.
Whether you have an Alexa in every room of your house or still check the weather report in the newspaper, this technology is here and has significant implications for all of us. This book helped me make sense of a very interesting, complex and important story that I hadn’t thought much about but need to - Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft certainly are.
For a serious book, I found it an enjoyable, easy read with superlative writing. I am looking forward to more from this author!
May 27, 2019
Inside baseball about Siri, Alexa, etc. better than the usual book of the sort because the author leaves out the part about himself (the Dadbot) until the end instead of making the book revolve around that.
June 16, 2019
Loved the book, its a well researched book with a detailed glimpse into our future of voice assistant. Definitely, there are going to be many considerations that we should start planning on it. I loved the last chapter, it's a highly recommended read.
April 29, 2020
Accessible and with some surprisingly touching sessions. The economic angle is summarized quite well. Not very deep technically, but goes into enough detail that I feel I got something out of it. Already dated, but that's unsurprising, given the topic.
December 9, 2021
First half was history of voice recognition and assistants, which was interesting, but a bit "academic". I had hoped there'd be more talk about the limitations of current implementations, though I suppose the history and future does match the title.
Read
July 15, 2024straightforward, prosaic
reviewing 5 months after the fact, i dont remember much details or impressions i had so leaving it unrated
some lines i enjoyed:
- a firing squad of cameras
- listening in like the cia
reviewing 5 months after the fact, i dont remember much details or impressions i had so leaving it unrated
some lines i enjoyed:
- a firing squad of cameras
- listening in like the cia
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews