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Latest artificial intelligence agent follows the Google Assistant, Siri from Apple, Bixby from Samsung and ThinQ from LG
Huawei says its Huawei virtual AI assistant will launch in Europe next year, claiming it will offer a more tailor-made experience than rival offerings.
Huawei Assistant is only live in China at present, but Huawei mobile services Europe vice president Jaime Gonzalo confirmed it will reach European markets in 2019.
Interface
The assistant can recognise the location where users are and offer services tailored to that area, through partners such as Booking.com for hotels.
The system is powered by Huawei Ability Gallery, an intelligent distribution platform that serves as an interface between users and content.
Speaking to Mobile News, Gonzalo said: “The purpose of Huawei Assistant is to be contextual and relevant; we don’t want to be intrusive. We want to offer an experience that provides users with the opportunity to benefit from the technologies on their phone in a comfortable way.”
Modules
Huawei Assistant has so far been available to more than 300 million Huawei users in China and offers three main modules – Instant Access, News Feeds and SmartCare.
Instant Access gives people customised shortcuts for using the services of installed apps, while News Feeds provides information based on user preferences, covering both local and trending news.
SmartCare offers intelligent reminder services in five initial categories, including food, travel, sporting events and stock services.
Gonzalo says Huawei Assistant is different to rivals’ offerings, and is also non-intrusive and doesn’t use advertising.
“Unlike other data assistant services, we are not a data mining company; we are not interested in advertising. Instead, we are offering a contextual proposition tailored to our users.”
Huawei vice president of mobile services Jervis Su added: “Huawei Assistant provides enormous value to users by intelligently offering faster and more convenient services. We are looking forward to working with our premium partners to provide best-in-class content and services to our users.”