Yandex has updated its smart home: now the "Alice" voice assistant understands users' natural speech.
Users can give commands in free form, and the system automatically determines the desired action. For example, the phrase "Alice, it's time to clean up" starts the robot vacuum cleaner, "Alice, I need to get up at seven tomorrow" sets the alarm, and "Alice, it's too dark" adjusts the lighting.
The system recognizes synonyms and context: "turn on the light on the table" and "turn on the table lamp" are treated the same, "hall" and "living room" are also the same. It correctly processes colors: if the user says "turquoise", the smart home turns on the light, even if it is designated as blue in the palette.
Alice takes into account the context of the dialogue. After the question "At what temperature should black tea be brewed?" it is enough to say "Turn on the kettle to this temperature", and the device will execute the command. You can set several actions at once with one phrase: "Alice, turn on the yellow light to forty percent." The system understands constructions with exceptions: "Alice, turn off the light everywhere except the kitchen."
The function calling technology (tool calling) distributes requests between devices. The model analyzes the command, breaks it down into steps, and activates the appropriate devices. As it learns, the smart home will be more accurate in recognizing spoken commands and performing complex actions.
