App that talks back a success in any language
A Cambridge company has developed a new mobile app for Android that uses artificial intelligence to allow users to ask for information and get a spoken reply.
You can use talk or type to get information out of the Evi app from UK innovator True Knowledge. The device takes searching out of the search.Evi has already shot to Number 1 in the Lifestyle iTunes app store! Free on Android and 69p on the iPhone, Evi uses cutting edge semantic search technology to bring essential information directly to a user’s phone without the need to mine the web or navigate websites.
Evi differs from standard search engines in that she doesn’t simply trawl the internet to find websites which match a given phrase. She is able to not only understand natural language, allowing users to speak or type a question as if they were speaking to another person, but also understands the desire behind the question and presents the essential information.
If you were to ask a search engine “where can I get a coffee around here?” you would be presented with a list of websites whose content contains the words included in that question, but with no actual intelligence, resulting in links to blog articles, discussions about coffee growing and Wikipedia articles.
Ask the same question of Evi and she will present a list of coffee shops nearby, their distance from your location as well as maps. Evi knows what you want and is able to give you the exact information you need.
Evi is able to answer a vast array of questions using her own growing database of nearly a billion facts but also knows when she needs to use external sources for information.
She can intelligently interact with services such as nationalrail.com, Amazon, top-table, Yelp and more to give you all the information you need from within one single app.
You can ask Evi questions by talking or typing, and she can present her answers in the same manner. And she is an evolving intelligence. As she grows she will learn more about the world and become even more knowledgeable.
True Knowledge, founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe, has been developing semantic search technology since June 2007. The website trueknowledge.com has been answering questions for over four years as well as providing information services to other businesses and apps. Evi is the company’s first product developed specifically for the mobile market.
• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: William Tunstall-Pedoe
