Virtual assistant in the context of Windows Phone

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals.

High-profile applications of AI include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search); recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix); virtual assistants (e.g., Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa); autonomous vehicles (e.g., Waymo); generative and creative tools (e.g., language models and AI art); and superhuman play and analysis in strategy games (e.g., chess and Go). However, many AI applications are not perceived as AI: "A lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being called AI because once something becomes useful enough and common enough it's not labeled AI anymore."

Amazon Alexa, or simply Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology marketed by Amazon and implemented in software applications for smart phones, tablets, wireless smart speakers, and other electronic appliances.

Alexa was largely developed from a Polish speech synthesizer named Ivona, acquired by Amazon on January 24, 2013.

Google Assistant is an outgoing virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on home automation and mobile devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike the company's previous virtual assistant, Google Now.

Google Assistant debuted in 2016 as part of Google's messaging app Allo, and its voice-activated speaker Google Nest. After a period of exclusivity on the Google Pixel smartphones, it was deployed on other Android devices starting in February 2017, including third-party smartphones and Android Wear (now Wear OS), and was released as a standalone app on the iOS operating system in May 2017. Alongside the announcement of a software development kit in April 2017, Assistant has been further extended to support a large variety of devices, including cars and third-party smart home appliances. The functionality of Assistant can also be enhanced by third-party developers. At CES 2018, the first Assistant-powered smart displays (Smart speakers with video screens) were announced, with the first one being released in July 2018. In 2020, Google Assistant was already available on more than 1 billion devices.

Siri (/ˈsɪri/ SEER-ee) is a virtual assistant and chatbot purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Internet services. With continued use, it adapts to users' individual language usages, searches, and preferences, returning individualized results.

Siri is a spin-off from a project developed by the SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center. Its speech recognition engine was provided by Nuance Communications, and it uses advanced machine learning technologies to function. Its original American, British, and Australian voice actors recorded their respective voices around 2005, unaware of the recordings' eventual usage. Siri was released as an app for iOS in February 2010. Two months later, Apple acquired it and integrated it into the iPhone 4s at its release on 4 October 2011, removing the separate app from the iOS App Store. Siri has since been an integral part of Apple's products, having been adapted into other hardware devices including newer iPhone models, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, AirPods, Apple TV, HomePod, and Apple Vision Pro.

A voice-user interface (VUI) enables spoken human interaction with computers, using speech recognition to understand spoken commands and answer questions, and typically text to speech to play a reply. A voice command device is a device controlled with a voice user interface.

Voice user interfaces have been added to automobiles, home automation systems, computer operating systems, home appliances like washing machines and microwave ovens, and television remote controls. They are the primary way of interacting with virtual assistants on smartphones and smart speakers. Older automated attendants (which route phone calls to the correct extension) and interactive voice response systems (which conduct more complicated transactions over the phone) can respond to the pressing of keypad buttons via DTMF tones, but those with a full voice user interface allow callers to speak requests and responses without having to press any buttons.

A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of maintaining a conversation with a user in natural language and simulating the way a human would behave as a conversational partner. Such chatbots often use deep learning and natural language processing, but simpler chatbots have existed for decades.

Chatbots have increased in popularity as part of the AI boom of the 2020s, and the popularity of ChatGPT, followed by competitors such as Gemini, Claude and later Grok. AI chatbots typically use a foundational large language model, such as GPT-4 or the Gemini language model, which is fine-tuned for specific uses.

Jeffrey Preston Bezos (/ˈbeɪzoʊs/ BAY-zohss; né Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. According to Forbes, as of 2025, Bezos's estimated net worth exceeded US$254 billion, making him the fifth richest person in the world. He was the wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, according to Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bezos was born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and Miami. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in engineering. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. Bezos founded Amazon in mid-1994 on a road trip from New York City to Seattle. The company began as an online bookstore and has since expanded to a variety of other e-commerce products and services, including video and audio streaming, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. It is the world's largest online sales company, the largest Internet company by revenue, and the largest provider of virtual assistants and cloud infrastructure services through its Amazon Web Services branch.

Gemini (formerly known as Bard) is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot and virtual assistant developed by Google. Based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name, it was launched on March 21, 2023 in response to the rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Amazon Echo, often shortened to Echo, is a brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service, Alexa, which responds to a wake term (Alexa, and others) when spoken by its user. The features of the device include voice interaction, audio program playback, such as music, streaming podcasts, and audiobooks, maintaining to-do lists, alarms, and scheduling reminders, in addition to providing weather, traffic and other real-time information. It can also control several smart devices, acting as a home automation hub.

Amazon started developing Echo devices inside its Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and in Cambridge, Massachusetts as early as 2010. The device represented one of its first attempts to expand its device portfolio beyond the Kindle e-reader.

In computing, an avatar is a graphical representation of a user, the user's character, or persona. Avatars can be two-dimensional icons in Internet forums and other online communities, where they are also known as profile pictures (pfp), userpics, or formerly picons (personal icons, or possibly "picture icons"). Alternatively, an avatar can take the form of a three-dimensional model, as used in online worlds and video games, or an imaginary character with no graphical appearance, as in text-based games or worlds such as MUDs.

The term avatāra (/ˈævətɑːr, ˌævəˈtɑːr/) originates from Sanskrit, and was adopted by early computer games and science fiction novelists. Richard Garriott extended the term to an on-screen user representation in 1985, and the term gained wider adoption in Internet forums and MUDs. Nowadays, avatars are used in a variety of online settings including social media, virtual assistants, instant messaging platforms, and digital worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. They can take the form of an image of one's real-life self, as often seen on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, or a virtual character that diverges from the real world. Often, these are customised to show support for different causes, or to create a unique online representation.

Cortana is a discontinued virtual assistant developed by Microsoft that used the Bing search engine to perform tasks such as setting reminders and answering questions for users.

Cortana was available in English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese language editions, depending on the software platform and region in which it was used.

Bixby (/ˈbɪksbi/ ) is a virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics that runs on various Samsung-branded appliances, primarily mobile devices but also some refrigerators televisions and PCs. It uses voice commands and a natural-language user interface to answer questions and perform tasks, while adapting to the users' preferences and behavior.

Samsung first launched Bixby in 2017. Along with Bixby voice assistant, its other main component currently is Bixby Vision, a contextual and visual search augmented reality camera app. Formerly, the Bixby suite consisted of a number of other tools but these have since been renamed, such as Bixby Routines (now Modes and Routines).

Google Nest, formerly known as Google Home, is a line of smart speakers developed by Google under the Google Nest brand. The devices enable users to speak voice commands to interact with services through Google Assistant, the company's virtual assistant, and with a touchscreen display on some models. Both in-house and third-party services are integrated, allowing users to listen to music, control playback of videos or photos, or receive news updates entirely by voice. Google Nest devices also have integrated support for home automation, letting users control smart home appliances with their voice command. The first device, Google Home, was released in the United States in November 2016; subsequent product releases have occurred globally since 2017.

Through software updates to Google Nest devices and Google Assistant, additional functionality has been added over time. For example, multiple speakers can be set up for synchronized playback of music. An update in April 2017 brought multi-user support, allowing the device to distinguish between up to six people by voice. In May 2017, Google announced multiple updates, including: hands-free phone calling at no cost in Canada and the United States; proactive reminders ahead of scheduled events; visual responses on mobile devices or Chromecast-enabled televisions; Bluetooth audio streaming; and the ability to add reminders and calendar appointments.