Home assistants and other AI-based conversational services are an active part of our lives at present. Brian Jackson, research director, Info-Tech Research Group, discusses how these ubiquitous tools impact our lives and how our relationship with them can be improved.
It’s 3 A.M., and my baby is fussing as I carry her into the nursery. “Hey Google, turn on the light,†I mutter as I approach the changing table. Reaching out to touch the switch is too difficult with the baby in my arms.Â
After changing her diaper, it’s time to log the event. As every other parent knows, logging every bowel movement of your newborn is critical, as doctors will ask you to report on it at every appointment. And they expect accuracy – the number of times your baby peed in 24 hours – not a ballpark estimate. So I say, “Hey Google, Tell Baby Daybook to add a dirty diaper.†After a few seconds, a female voice confirms success in logging the event. “OK, dirty diaper added.â€Â
It’s no accident that I’m using Google Assistant to manage this sort of tracking for the baby. In the weeks leading up to her birth, I knew that I’d want to do this sort of tracking hands-free. A pen and paper system would be too clunky and time-consuming for my liking. Using a mobile app that automated some aspects of tracking would be better but would still require me to find my smartphone and use a hand to accomplish the task. Better that I could use my voice, speaking to one of the Google Home speakers I have placed around my condo – including in the nursery.Â
At first, I thought I’d have to use IFTTT.com to connect my Assistant to a Google Spreadsheet, programming voice commands that would log different events. But my spreadsheet quickly became overly complicated to update with voice commands. Not only do you have to track dirty diapers for your newborn, but how long it spends breastfeeding when it gets vitamin D, sleep time, tummy time… You get the picture. So when I found myself trying to write code to accomplish this, I remembered that software is usually sold as a product. So I searched for a baby tracker app with voice assistant integration and found Baby Daybook.Â
How Voice-first Are We?
Six weeks into caring for my newborn, the voice tracking has gone pretty well. It doesn’t always work, with my Google Home sometimes responding, “Sorry, I can’t send messages yet,†or some other non sequitur, but I’ve found it easier than opening the app. Tragically, my modern style of voice-first parenting won’t be possible in less than a year from now. Google announced that it’s sunsetting Conversational Actions on June 13, 2023. Baby Daybook is classified as a Conversational Action by Google. Basically, any third-party service that requires you to ask Assistant to talk to a different assistant is in the same category.
Only a Few Geeks Like Me are Actually Using Smart Speakers Like This
Curious about the future of Baby Daybook and how many users like me would be affected by the change, I emailed the Lithuanian developerOpens a new window that built it. Baltapis makes a point of marketing its Google Assistant integration on its app’s homepage, and that’s the key feature that sold me on the app. Was the sunset of Conversational Actions sending them into a panic?
Not so much. Only 0.1% of its app user base makes use of Conversational Actions, a representative from Baby Daybook says. That’s 200 daily users and 650 monthly users. Probably other nerdy Dads like me, fascinated at the prospect of using voice to interact with a computer to accomplish everyday tasks. The rest of the 99.9% of Baby Daybook’s users are like my wife and simply use the smartphone app.Â
Still, the developers aren’t giving up on alternative user interfaces to make parents’ lives easier. It’s working on an app for Apple Watch and home widgets for iOS. It’s also looking to continue providing voice interaction through App Actions for Android, an alternate development path that Google’s made available for app builders affected by the sunset of Conversational Actions. “We hope the implementation using App Actions will be more popular,†the rep says in an email.Â
The Evolution of Voice Capabilities
App Actions allow Android smartphone users to launch apps and use app features with their voices. According to GoogleOpens a new window , these voice capabilities will be promoted to users through Assistant as a shortcut based on specific contexts. The bad news for me and about 200 other parents is that these features won’t be available when accessing Assistant through a smart speaker. The main reason I wanted to use Baby Daybook in the first place was to avoid having to find my phone every time I logged a dirty diaper. Now that’s not possible through Google’s platform.
Alexa Skills are the Only Option for Voice Developers Targeting Smart Speakers
There’s still hope for voice-first geeks. Baby Daybook says that once it’s done integrating App Actions, it will consider integrating with competing voice assistants in Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. For Siri, Apple hasn’t opened up its HomePod device for third-party services yet. But Amazon has the most extensive install base of smart speakers worldwide, and about one-quarter of U.S. households own the device. Amazon is bullish on third-party services for Alexa, which it calls Skills, and more than 100,000 Skills have been launched for Alexa worldwide. What’s not clear is just how often people actually use these services.Â
According to research firm Voicebot.aiOpens a new window , Alexa owners most often use their devices to set timers, play music, or answer basic questions. Amazon adds to that, saying that other popular features include smart home controls, shopping, streaming video, and Alexa Routines. None of those are third-party skills that require a user to ask Alexa to talk to another service (e.g., “Alexa, tell Baby Daybook to add a dirty diaper.â€).Â
Still, Amazon’s support for developers on the Alexa platform is robust. Last summer, it introduced the ability for developers to sell their Skills on the Alexa marketplace in the U.S. That opportunity was extended to Canada earlier this year. With no smartphone in the market, Amazon must rely on smart speakers to maintain a conversational link with its customers. So it doesn’t have the option to pivot its voice assistant strategy as Google did.
Tracking dirty diapers will seem like a distant memory to me by the time Google sunsets conversational actions in June 2023. So I won’t miss Baby Daybook when it no longer responds to my requests during a late-night diaper change. But, if there are any developers creating ways to help me parent my toddler, I know that I won’t be able to use those services with my smart speakers. Â
How do you think voice-first technologies need to evolve to blend better with our lives? Share your thoughts on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to know!
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