But while some impressive progress in voice recognition and instant translation has enabled Xu to talk with his Canadian tenant, language understanding and translation for machines remains an incredibly challenging task (see “AI’s Language Problem”).

Xu recalls a misunderstanding when he tried to ask his tenant when he would get off work to come sign the lease renewal. But the text message sent by the app was “What time do you go to work today?” In retrospect, he figures that it was probably because of the wording of his question: you’ll work until what time today? “Sometimes, depending on the context, I can’t get my meaning across,” says Xu, who still depends on it for communication.

Xu’s story highlights why it’s so important for a company like iFlytek to gather as much data from real-world interactions as possible. The app, which is free, has been collecting that data since it launched in 2010.

iFlytek’s developer platform, called iFlytek Open Platform, provides voice-based AI technologies to over 400,000 developers in various industries such as smart home and mobile Internet. The company is valued at 80 billion yuan ($12 billion), and has international ambitions, including a subsidiary in the U.S. and an effort to expand into languages other than Chinese. Meanwhile, the company is changing the way many industries such as driving, health care, and education interact with their users in China.

iFlytek is headquartered in Hefei, China.

In August, iFlytek launched a voice assistant for drivers called Xiaofeiyu (Little Flying Fish). To ensure safe driving, it has no screen and no buttons. Once connected to the Internet and the driver’s smartphone, it can place calls, play music, look for directions, and search for restaurants through voice commands. Unlike voice assistants intended for homes, Xiaofeiyu was designed to recognize voices in a noisy environment.

Min Chu, the vice president of AISpeech, another Chinese company working on voice-based human-computer interaction technologies, says voice assistants for drivers are in some ways more promising than smart speakers and virtual assistants embedded in smartphones. When the driver’s eyes and hands are occupied, it makes more sense to rely on voice commands. In addition, once drivers become used to getting things done using their voice, the assistant can also become a content provider, recommending entertainment options instead of passively handling requests. This way, a new business model will evolve.