Snips AIR illustration
Parisian startup Snips is going after market leaders Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant with a new blockchain-based artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistant that promises a higher level of protection for users’ personal data.
Snips AIR[1], which will be available for consumers in the end of 2019, is set to be the first decentralized, privacy-focused voice platform. Instead of storing data in the cloud, Snips AIR will process data 100% on-device, ensuring that families’ personal data remains within their smart homes.
The company claims the new platform aims to address the numerous issues faced by existing AI voice assistants that are powering smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices.
Smart speakers are the fastest-growing consumer tech[2] with global sales expected to reach 56 million devices this year, according to research firm Canalys. And yet, serious privacy and security concerns remain with cases of devices recording more than they should.
Case in point, a tech journalist who was given a Google Home Mini ahead of its general release date last year discovered[3] that the device was making recordings even when he hadn’t summoned Google Assistant, the AI powering the Google Home devices.
Moreover, smart speakers are connected to the Internet which makes them prone to hackers. Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant can sync with a user’s calendar, and access passwords along with other private information.
Snips wants to address these flaws by utilizing its AIR Network blockchain and edge computing[4] to create a decentralized platform in which users are in control over their data. The technology allows data processing to be done locally without any data being sent to a cloud back-end.
“Existing voice assistants represent everything that is wrong with the Internet today:
