Ever wonder what Siri looks like? Maybe Cortana? Today I started imagining what digital personal assistants really look like. When I asked Siri about her appearance, she replied that she’s “rather abstract looking,” making me wonder about her features even more.
Of the big three used today Siri is the oldest followed by Cortana and Alexa. I believe Siri is definitely the wisest of the bunch because she’s the oldest. But at only 6 years old she’s able to recite lyrics and answer questions as well as take orders. Ask her a question she isn’t comfortable answering and forget about it.
Cortana, almost exactly 2 years younger than Siri, is a bit dimwitted. If you ask her a question she tends not to be able to answer, or points me to odd ways to find the answer myself. Between you and me, I can’t decide if her hearing is bad or if she’s simply ignoring me. I chalk it up to her being somewhat stubborn.
The youngest of the trio is Alexa, but don’t let her age fool you. She tends to be as smart as Siri and her quips, especially to silly questions, seem to be on par with Siri. I imagine they’re kind of a digital doppelganger.
I imagine Siri, being the oldest of the bunch, showing some age. Perhaps she has some wrinkles and may not even have a human head. I don’t know if there’s an equivalent to dog years when measuring artificial intelligence, but I’d imagine Siri to be in her 50’s. Maybe in a past life she was fairly high ranking and well educated.
We already have a basic idea that Cortana has a metal body based on her older brother Clippy’s stature. Because she doesn’t pay attention I imagine Cortana is a day dreamer. Maybe she’s some kind of hippy who’s head is in the clouds most of the time because it takes yelling “hey Cortana” 2-3 times before getting her attention.
Alexa is wise for her age and probably a scholar. I imagine her wearing giant librarian glasses and walking around stacks of old books in a library. Based on her voice she either drinks an abundance of coffee or Five Hour Energy. I’d like to think that age and wisdom go together; however, from what I know I’m not too sure.
I haven’t spent too much time changing any of their default voices so I can’t imagine them sounding any different. Perhaps tonight I’ll fool around with changing them to UK accents, close my eyes and think up some different ideas.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)