Tag: AI

AI and the rise of NOUI

As the use of artificially intelligent home automation gains momentum around the world, I find myself asking, “What is the best way to make our lives, with AI, easier?”

Note that I didn’t ask “What is the best way to make our lives easier with AI?” Because I think that we already have some great ideas on that already, as seen with Mark Zuckerberg.

But life with AI is an inevitability, so, how can we make the interface between humans and AI easy?

NoUI (no user interface) is a term coined to define display-less control of software. Yes, that’s right – no display!  This “NoUI is best” design philosophy is being promoted greatly by Golden Krishna. In his book, The Best Interface is No Interface, he proposes that the visible user interface is redundant.

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“It’s about fixing solutions, not filling up screens” Golden Krishna

Noui has certainly grown in recent use with the accessibility of AI. Devices, such as Amazon Echo and the Google home smart speaker, allow us to talk to AI, but are still limited and at times frustrating. Fortunately, another AI is readily available that improves on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and gives a very good indication of where noui is headed.

Josh.ai is a high-level voice activated interface to your home automation system. He acts as a natural extension to your home by understanding natural sentences. You can ask him to do various tasks at once, making life at home a lot easier.

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Other features also set Josh apart. Unlike other voice systems that only integrate with one smart home system, Josh is built to access a multitude of home systems.

Josh connects with a list of “off the shelf” home automation products, as well as professionally installed automation systems. These products and systems can all be controlled by Josh regardless of whether you’re home or away somewhere over your phone.

Josh also comes with it’s own app, combining a standard visual interface of touch screen design and control, as well as voice activation. And this is where the trend of AI user interface currently appears to be heading.

There is no “visual vs voice” interface as Golden Krishna is promoting. Future AI interfaces will be a combination of the two.

In fact, since most Humans operate on 5 physical senses, the interface between human and AI needs to operate on as many senses as possible to appear natural and intuitive. Unless Google Nose takes off, we will communicate with AI via our three primary senses – sight, sound and touch. (The reference to Google Nose was a joke by the way, for those who didn’t get it).

If this demo video is true, then Josh is an AI that appears far easier to use than Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

Real demo of Josh in a 10,000 sqft Beverly Hills home

Jarvis, Mark Zuckerberg’s home AI

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In December 2016, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that his personal challenge for 2016 was to build a simple AI to run his home — like Jarvis in Iron Man.

One aspect that was much more complicated than he expected was simply connecting and communicating with all of the different systems in his home.

Before he could build any AI, he first needed to write code to connect these systems, which all speak different languages and protocols. He used a Crestron system with his lights, thermostat and doors, a Sonos system with Spotify for music, a Samsung TV, a Nest cam for his daughter, and of course his work is connected to Facebook’s systems.

15419743_10103347287954901_2744013366467623932_oPosted on Facebook December 19, 2016

Using several artificial intelligence techniques, including natural language processing, speech recognition, face recognition, and reinforcement learning, Jarvis learns Mark’s tastes and patterns, and can learn new words and concepts.