Examples of Machines Becoming More Important
Peter Voss said the company's SmartAction IVR System, running on a2i2's data center, "constantly
monitors and manages conversation flow and meta-cognitive state (such as mood, degree of certainty
and surprise), and determines when clarification via live interaction, email, or live-agent assistance is
needed."
Its speech engine then responds, based on the current conversation context (with natural-language
programming), and a cognitive engine analyzes multiple speech hypotheses for the most likely
meaning, resolving ambiguities.
In essence, the system replaces a (hypothetical) intelligent live operator who happens to have an
amazing memory. The system remembers each caller's preferences, previous calls and other details,
so callers don't have to answer the same questions every time they call. If a call is interrupted, the
system can call the customer back and pick up the conversation where it left off. Try getting all that on
your next 800 number call!
"Its built-in intelligence also allows the system to be taught new skills and knowledge, instead of these
having to be custom programmed," Voss said. Based on seven years of AGI research, the program
could "revolutionize the 10 billion dollars annual IVR market," he believes.
The ultimate purpose for their LiveAGI Brain is to "enable a major transformation of human-computer
interfaces for a broad range of applications, such as websites, search engines, console and online
games, virtual worlds, enterprise software, and consumer products."
Current automated call center systems either provide extremely crude functionality, or else require
extensive domain customization prior to each deployment; and they still show serious shortcomings
even after such customization, due largely to their ability to interpret the user's statements in terms of
an appropriate contextual understanding.
"The promise AGI technology offers for this domain is the possibility of responding to user statements
with the contextual understanding that only general intelligence can bring," said Ben
Goertzel, CEO and Chief Scientist of AI firm Novamente LLC, which is also developing AGI-based
virtual-agent products.
"However, the extent to which a2i2 has really solved this very difficult call-center problem is impossible
to assess without actually trying the product. What they have might be an incremental
improvement over existing technologies, or it might be a quantum leap forward; based on the
information provided, there is no way to tell. For example, Tuvox is a quite sophisticated competitor
and it would be interesting to see a head to head competition between their system and a2i2's.
http://www.technologyquestions.com/2009/01/14/smartaction-ivr-system-needed-mass-market-indepen
dent-learners655.html
http://www.smartaction.com/Press_release-The_Smart_Action_Company_starts_operating_and_releas
es_SmartAction_IVR_System.pdf
Domo Edsinger robot
http://people.csail.mit.edu/edsinger/domo.htm
The Robots are Coming
Next
Peter Voss said the company's SmartAction IVR System, running on a2i2's data center, "constantly
monitors and manages conversation flow and meta-cognitive state (such as mood, degree of certainty
and surprise), and determines when clarification via live interaction, email, or live-agent assistance is
needed."
Its speech engine then responds, based on the current conversation context (with natural-language
programming), and a cognitive engine analyzes multiple speech hypotheses for the most likely
meaning, resolving ambiguities.
In essence, the system replaces a (hypothetical) intelligent live operator who happens to have an
amazing memory. The system remembers each caller's preferences, previous calls and other details,
so callers don't have to answer the same questions every time they call. If a call is interrupted, the
system can call the customer back and pick up the conversation where it left off. Try getting all that on
your next 800 number call!
"Its built-in intelligence also allows the system to be taught new skills and knowledge, instead of these
having to be custom programmed," Voss said. Based on seven years of AGI research, the program
could "revolutionize the 10 billion dollars annual IVR market," he believes.
The ultimate purpose for their LiveAGI Brain is to "enable a major transformation of human-computer
interfaces for a broad range of applications, such as websites, search engines, console and online
games, virtual worlds, enterprise software, and consumer products."
Current automated call center systems either provide extremely crude functionality, or else require
extensive domain customization prior to each deployment; and they still show serious shortcomings
even after such customization, due largely to their ability to interpret the user's statements in terms of
an appropriate contextual understanding.
"The promise AGI technology offers for this domain is the possibility of responding to user statements
with the contextual understanding that only general intelligence can bring," said Ben
Goertzel, CEO and Chief Scientist of AI firm Novamente LLC, which is also developing AGI-based
virtual-agent products.
"However, the extent to which a2i2 has really solved this very difficult call-center problem is impossible
to assess without actually trying the product. What they have might be an incremental
improvement over existing technologies, or it might be a quantum leap forward; based on the
information provided, there is no way to tell. For example, Tuvox is a quite sophisticated competitor
and it would be interesting to see a head to head competition between their system and a2i2's.
http://www.technologyquestions.com/2009/01/14/smartaction-ivr-system-needed-mass-market-indepen
dent-learners655.html
http://www.smartaction.com/Press_release-The_Smart_Action_Company_starts_operating_and_releas
es_SmartAction_IVR_System.pdf
Domo Edsinger robot
http://people.csail.mit.edu/edsinger/domo.htm
The Robots are Coming
Next
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