Yandex taught TVs to understand unfamiliar voice commands using AI

The voice assistant “Alice” has the ability to control “TV Stations” using commands in any form – for this, the assistant processes instructions using the large YandexGPT 4 language model. Previously, “Alice” was limited only to preset commands.

Image source: Yandex

«Alice” learned to “think” – to use the YandexGPT 4 language model not only to prepare detailed responses in the dialog interface, but also to execute user commands: the request is analyzed, after which a decision is made on the order of its execution. The technology is called “smart features”. Previously, the voice assistant processed only those commands for which it had been previously trained – with any deviation from this standard, “Alice” replied that “it doesn’t know how to do that yet.”

Now, if the system encounters a non-standard request, it divides it into its component parts and executes it step by step. You can ask “Alice” to turn off the TV when the current match ends – she will find out how much time is left until it ends and set a timer for this time. In the same way, the procedure for adding a film or TV series to the “Will Watch” list has been simplified: previously, you had to search for the corresponding title and only then add it – now a film or TV series is added to the “Will Watch” list without searching or expanding the card on the screen.

Finally, compound commands are supported that provide a sequence of actions and tasks of different types, for example, “Alice, add “Badgercat” to “I’ll watch,” and now turn on “Three Cats”” or “Alice, turn on the first movie at volume 20.” In the future, Yandex promised to further complicate the way the voice assistant works with a neural network: tasks will include several stages, including interaction with smart home devices and Yandex services.