Ever morning I walk into my kitchen, I have this conversation with Alexa:

Taron: “Alexa, What’s the weather?” Alexa: [Says weather forecast] Taron: “Alexa, What’s on my calendar?” Alexa: [Says calendar information]

It’s great to have easy access to these things, but why do I have to ask?

We all know Alexa and Google Home are always listening. So, they could easily detect if someone is in the room.

The conversation could be:

* Taron walks into kitchen. * Alexa: “Good morning Taron, would you like to know your briefing for the day?” Taron: Yes Alexa: [Give pertinent information]

This conversation is more efficient for two reasons:

It’s less intrusive on the user—they only need to say one word. Alexa would actually learn and be reactive to me.

Don’t get me wrong; I love my Alexa. But this model doesn’t help non-techies use the product.

For most people, voice assistants are just a glorified timer and speaker — assuming they remember the device is there in the first place.

Voice assistants are incredible. However, to start to see them become useful, we need these devices to learn and adapt to me and my environment, not just my voice.

Every ‘smart’ product should be thinking about this.