The developer uses Siri, ChatGPT and his coding knowledge to create a super smart voice assistant.
Frustrated that Siri doesn’t understand all of your requests? There is a way to make Apple’s voice assistant work hand in hand with GPT-3 (the deep learning-based OpenAI language model used in the ChatGPT chatbot) to make the assistant smarter and more talkative.
The developer uses Siri, ChatGPT and his development knowledge
Developer Mate Marschalko used the voice of Siri, the Cupertino company’s Shortcuts app, the power of GPT-3, and a few developer tricks to create a super-smart assistant that can answer complex queries.
In a video posted on Reddit, we see Mate Marshalko using some really complex commands with his assistant. In one example, he says, “It took me a while to fall asleep yesterday. Do you have any suggestions to help me sleep better?” The assistant responds by suggesting taking a hot bath, reading a book, and giving up caffeine. In another example, Mate Marschalko says: “You see, I am recording this video in the dark, in the office. Is there anything you can do?” and the assistant simply turns on the light.
Compared to Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, this home assistant seems to be able to understand much more complex requests, but it also responds in a much more natural way, much like a “normal”person.
develop a super smart voice assistant
Mate Marshalko explains that developing this helper was quite simple. “I was able to pull this off by simply asking GPT-3 to pretend to be my home assistant, list the devices in my house and a few other details like location and time, and then ask it to respond in structured data format. (JSON), which I then used to trigger control messages in HomeKit in a series of if..else in a single Siri shortcut.”
Of course, it’s a bit of work – all the instructions are here – and requires some programming knowledge, but according to Mate Marshalko, almost anyone can do it in a short hour.
While this demo makes Apple Siri a newborn, things aren’t that simple. API requests to GPT-3 cost about $0.014 per item, so this great helper isn’t free. And Siri, like other AI-based assistants, will never say anything obscene or potentially offensive; a language model like GPT-3 has protection mechanisms, but it can react in unexpected ways. And without testing the robot on your own, it is difficult to understand what could be wrong.
Still, it’s a really enjoyable experience that should no doubt lead to plenty of homemade Siri clones. To be continued!