Alice voice assistant. Voice assistant "Alice" Yandex application beta Alice

Yandex Alice– voice assistant from Yandex for Android devices. Alice on the phone is a trained assistant whose answers are not limited to a standard set of programmed phrases. She can conduct dialogues on various topics and even knows a few jokes. Alice is a multifunctional assistant, she can launch an application, can find an answer to any of your queries on the Internet or support a dialogue when you want to chat. Alice can display the answers on the screen of her mobile device or speak them with her voice. This saves a lot of time.

Yandex Alice is a trainable voice assistant. If something is not clear to her, she will clarify the information and make amendments to her database. She can choose emotions to respond based on the context of the sentence and even show her character. Yandex with Alice is at the stage of constant improvements and improvements, so it does not yet have some functions. For example, you won't be able to contact Alice if your phone screen is locked or your device doesn't have an Internet connection.

The advantages of Yandex Alice include the fact that it is focused on the Russian-speaking user, understands spoken language, and not just precise queries, and has a close connection with other services from Yandex. Application Yandex Alice for Android download you can do it for free and without registration from our website. The direct download link is located just below.

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Screenshots of Yandex with Alice

Features of the Yandex voice assistant with Alice for Android:

  • Alice quickly answers questions asked;
  • High location accuracy on the map;
  • Opens the requested resources on the Internet;
  • Can run any application;
  • Can announce time, date or weather forecast;
  • Can serve as a calculator;
  • Will help you find this or that establishment;
  • Can get directions or provide traffic reports.

From Yandex they gave the name “Alice” - the developers claim that in honor of Alisa Selezneva, the heroine of Soviet films. Now “Alice” is already available to all owners of the Yandex browser, and it is also installed in various “smart” devices.

In 2017, very eloquent statistics were collected (collected by the SEO-Auditor portal), stating that over 90% of domestic users were looking for information in one of 2 search engines - Google or Yandex. The Mail.ru and Rambler systems were left with pitiful crumbs of user attention, and many Russian users were completely unaware of the existence of Bing and Yahoo.

At the same time, according to the SEO-Auditor rating, it can be understood that Yandex, which was significantly ahead of Google in mid-2016, was close to giving the “palm of championship” in 2017. Why did Yandex become weaker? The answer is simple: because more and more people accessed the Internet from mobile devices, and less and less from PCs. How many gadgets have the default browser with Yandex? No - any Android smartphone immediately goes to Google.

In order to prevent a monopoly on the Russian search engine market and not lose outright to Google, Yandex tried to offer users something that the “overseas giant” did not give them back then. This “something” was supposed to be an intelligent voice assistant that understands Russian. Google Assistant was good, but it has obvious problems with Russian; Google Now is quite primitive compared to, say, Amazon's Alexa. Yandex needed “Alice” to maintain its popularity.

The Russian company managed to release its voice assistant to the mass market before Google Assistant spoke Russian - and this is a significant victory.

In 2019, the company expanded its success - all its own services, and there are many of them (Radio, Navigator, Money and others) are tightly connected with Alice, in addition, they have their own gadgets that also interact with the assistant. With it you can launch any of these services, perform a number of actions and manage proprietary and third-party devices. The assistant's capabilities don't end there.

When was the Alice voice assistant released?

Yandex officially introduced “Alice” on October 10, 2017. Owners of all devices with iOS and Android, as well as users of Windows and other OS devices can resort to its services.

"Alice" recognizes speech well - moreover, it understands the user perfectly. According to Yandex, the assistant is trained on a huge array of texts, and therefore is a real erudite - she is able to recognize even unfinished questions, taking into account the context of what was said earlier. Unlike the beta version, the official "Alice" has no problems with intonation - she speaks in the voice of Tatyana Shitova, the actress who voices Scarlett Johansson.

Yandex likes to involve stars in the voice acting of services - the navigator of this company, for example, is able to speak in the voice of rapper Basta. And in 2019, the famous musician Noize MC recorded an audio tale especially for Yandex; you can listen to it upon request.

https://youtu.be/gNQc-2kzr7I

What can the Alice assistant from Yandex do?

  • Plots routes, finds addresses, the user’s position, and reports traffic jams.
  • Performs a traditional search in the Yandex system and can quickly answer popular questions, for example, “Who is Jon Snow?”
  • Gives weather forecasts and tells you what to wear before going outside.
  • Provides addresses of establishments - cafes, business centers, hostels.
  • Performs mathematical operations, converts currencies.
  • Launches applications and opens pages on the Internet, for example, Instagram, VKontakte or the State Services website.
  • Maintains dialogue, and sometimes even demonstrates erudition by quoting songs, dialogues from films, or referring to books.
  • It will help you manage your time - it will turn on an alarm, a timer, and create a reminder in your calendar.
  • Can play the game “Find the odd one out”, “Ball of Fate”, “What happened before”. The list is not limited to this, and you can find out what else is included by asking “Alice, let’s play.”
  • It will help pass the time - it will sing a song, repeat a phrase after the user, translate and pronounce it in a foreign language, play a fairy tale, identify a song, play music.
  • It will turn on devices connected to the smart home and allow you to control them.
  • It will help you make your first and repeat orders on the service.
  • Will call a specific number.

To promote Alice, Yandex uses numerous resources. Thus, the voice assistant is tightly integrated into the company’s proprietary applications - Taxi, Radio, Navigator and others.

Not without support for smart home systems. Many people have heard about “” - it’s voice controlled. However, in addition to its own devices, Yandex also has agreements with other brands. “Alice” supports smart speakers Elari Smartbeat, Irbis A, Xboom AI ThinQ WK7Y, can work with Smartbox TV set-top box, Elari KidPhone 3G children's watch and Ear Duo Bluetooth headphones. The list of partners does not end there. It includes, Redmond, and a lot of other famous brands (more than 100 in total).

The developers did a great job to “humanize” “Alice” as much as possible - so the voice assistant from Yandex is capable of humor no worse than Siri, some of whose gems have become popular memes. Here's how "Alice" explains why she's called that:

“Alice’s” answers are really extremely funny, and the assistant’s voice sounds quite natural (much better than in the beta version) - thanks to machine learning technologies, gluing is almost invisible. Those who are annoyed by small “speech defects” can turn off Alice’s voice and read the answers.

How to install Alice on a smartphone?

You can download “Alice” to your smartphone by downloading and installing the official Yandex application from Google Play or the AppStore. You should launch the application and press the blue button with the image of a microphone located exactly in the middle of the screen.

A correspondence window will appear, where old requests and answers given to them by “Alice” will be displayed. By clicking on the button with the microphone icon again, the user will be able to make a new voice request.

Conclusion

According to statistics, already in 2016, 3.5 billion different devices with voice assistants were used in the world. According to experts, by 2021 the number of such devices may double. Statistics convince us that we are at the stage of formation of a powerful global brand - in the near future, a company that has not given the world an intelligent assistant created by itself will be considered an outsider.

All major software developers have already acquired voice assistants that work to varying degrees effectively: for example, Apple delights its fans with the “clever” Siri, while Samsung, on the contrary, upsets users. Yandex also did not stand aside - its assistant “Alice” is becoming better and better in terms of functionality, and it is really convenient and interesting to use.

Since October 10, Android owners have a choice - a free voice assistant. Now, instead of “Okay Google,” you can say “OK, Alice” and hear a greeting in response from the new Yandex voice assistant. This is the company's most impressive event over the past year. In fact, the Alice application from Yandex, unlike Siri, works not only on Android, the version of which is not lower than 4.3, but also on other OSes. The fact is that it is for devices operating on the Android OS that, by default, for Internet users, Google is installed. Accordingly, all users are forced to communicate using voice commands with him. Yandex developers have offered an excellent alternative; you can download the voice assistant from Yandex.

The main differences between Yandex and Google voice assistants

The program from Yandex has enormous potential for development, due to its basis - a neural network. Google's voice assistant is also connected to the neural network. But Alice was created for Russia and Russian users, and Google Assistant was only adapted. The Alice Yandex Android assistant can joke in Russian, but the voice assistant from Google is serious and recognizes all questions only as a request to the search engine. To evaluate the assistant, you can download it via Google Play. There is another application on the Russian market - “Dusya”, which also uses the Russian language, but is installed only for a fee. Making a comparison between Alice and other analogues, even at the start, makes the application more interesting.

Main functions of the Yandex voice assistant

The phone program for Android and iOS alice has one distinctive feature: it does not “think” or “speak” in templates, you can simply talk to it in Russian, which distinguishes it from its analogue - Eva free. Launching the application is simple, you need to click on the microphone icon in the Yandex application and say a greeting, one of which is “OK, Yandex” or “hello, Alice”. After activating the application, a good female voice will answer, which belongs to Tatyana Shitova. It is convenient to use Alice Yandex Assistant android for those who a priori use Yandex on their phone or tablet for search and its many functions. It is Alice who is completely synchronized with all services of this search engine and will easily find the desired address and telephone number, as well as other information. It is enough to ask about the weather and Tatyana Shitova’s voice will notify you about the temperature and possible precipitation outside the window. If you want coffee, pizza or go to the movies, the assistant will tell you where the nearest pizzeria or cinema is. Synchronization with maps will allow you to plot the shortest possible route, both on foot and by transport. If you are in the mood to watch a video or listen to music, you can notify Alice about this, she will choose tracks to her taste in the Yandex application. Most often it’s Queen or Status QUO, these are her preferences. You can also set a specific style. According to the developers, Alice can analyze preferences based on previously selected ones and turn them on depending on the time of day.

Examples of queries and commands

  • Find the right establishment - where to watch a movie in Novosibirsk?
  • Find out the answer to the question – Population in Tokyo?
  • Get directions and determine geolocation – Get to Adler?
  • Find out traffic congestion - Are there any traffic jams in Moscow?

Unlike Apple Siri, “Alice” has its own character and maneuvers with its voice. Maybe, like any girl, she will be offended and not respond when a user calls her for some time. Voice guidance can be turned off or on by calling the program menu and checking the box in the desired position.

What else can Alice do on Android?

To make the most of the assistant's functionality, you need to know what the Alice voice assistant for Android can do.

List of functions:

  • Answering a question without using a browser;
  • Activation of some programs on Android;
  • Answer to the date and time question;
  • Weather;
  • Exchange rates;
  • Launching a page upon request/opening a query in search;
  • Determining location on the map;
  • Computing operations without using third-party applications;
  • Conversation support.

Alice is only at the start of her career, so to speak, which means she is just beginning to “explore the world.” In the rating of applications alice is in the top lines of the TOP. Over time, the application will be supplemented with functions and will work with more operating systems and devices. The more users want to download and start communicating with Alice, the sooner she will replenish her vocabulary, and the conversations will be not only useful, but also interesting.

If you are interested in how to install and use the Alice voice assistant from Yandex, then you are in the right place, and in this article I will talk about it. They say the future has already arrived. Voice assistants and self-learning computer systems, previously existing only in the works of science fiction writers, are gradually becoming an integral part of our lives. The recently released “Alice” from the Yandex company will help in obtaining the information we need (weather, convenient route, exchange rates, etc.). And the use of neural networks in its functionality will make it possible to recognize even fragments of words spoken by a person.

Voice assistant "Alice" from Yandex - first acquaintance

Surely many users are familiar firsthand with the popular voice assistants “Siri” (Apple), “Google Assistant” (Google), “Bixby” (Samsung), “Cortana” (Microsoft), “Alexa” (Amazon). All of them are able to distinguish human speech by performing a basic set of user commands (providing the required information, launching applications, switching the device to one mode or another, and so on). At the same time, the vast majority of them do not always accurately recognize Russian speech (and some are not familiar with the Russian language at all), since they are focused primarily on the English-speaking consumer.

The development of the Yandex company called “Alice” is designed to eliminate the mentioned drawback. The assistant has close integration with Yandex services and recognizes the Russian language well (according to the “WER” metric, the quality of speech recognition is close to human). Using neural network technology allows “Alice” to work well with intonation and understand even fragments of words spoken by a person.

"Alice" - a high-quality development by Yandex

“Alice” is available for installation both as a beta program for Windows OS and as a mobile application for Android and iOS OS.

What can Alice do?

Thanks to integration with Yandex services, when using the application, Alice will tell you about the weather, build the optimal route to, list eateries close to you, delight you with an anecdote, launch the desired music track, as well as the required application (Vkontakte, Skype, etc.) . “Alice” is also good at mathematics, makes calculations, and is well acquainted with exchange rates.

At the same time, her capabilities allow her to maintain a relaxed third-party dialogue, communicating in the context of any topic (although it would be fair to note that she does not always understand the context).

Sometimes dialogues with “Alice” look quite funny

The disadvantages of the application include the inability to work with an alarm clock, call an ambulance, or perform other similar actions available, for example, with Siri.

Where to download the Alice program

You can find out everything about the version from our article, and also download the mobile version of the assistant as part of the official Yandex application on the Android OS (versions 4.3 and higher) and iOS (versions 8.1 and higher).

How to use Alice on a computer

After installing the program, the assistant will appear as a search bar in the taskbar on the left.

To activate the assistant, say any of the phrases “Hello, Alice”, “Okay, Alice”, “Listen, Alice”. The program also responds well to the phrases “Hello, Yandex”, “Listen, Yandex”, “Okay, Yandex”.

After pronouncing the introductory phrase, the assistant panel will open, after which you will need to ask the required question (command).

It would also be a good idea to ask “What can you do?” in order to get a basic understanding of the application’s capabilities.

By hovering the cursor over the assistant panel and pressing the right mouse button, you can enter the settings mode. Here you can enable or disable voice activation using the phrases listed above, activate or deactivate voice responses, specify hotkeys for launching Alice, decide on its appearance (line mode or icon), and select the default browser.

How to launch a voice assistant on Android and iOS

Working with Alice on mobile devices is not significantly different from the version of the assistant on a PC. You need to install the official Alice application from Yandex on your gadget, launch it, and then click on the button with the image of a microphone in the center. After this, “Alice” will be activated, and you will be able to use it and ask the questions you need.

At the same time, “Alice” cannot be called when the screen is off or from the desktop. To launch and operate it, you must activate the official application from Yandex.

Conclusion

The launch of Alice will help Yandex compete with Google, which has been using its own voice tools for working with user search queries for a long time. At the same time, the focus of “Alice” on the Russian-speaking audience, high-quality Russian speech, the use of neural networks and other bonuses guarantee “Alice” great popularity in the near future. All that's left to do is wait.

Alice Yandex Assistant is a unique and completely new voice assistant named Alice from the popular company Yandex. She knows how to carry out many different commands and is quite a pleasant conversationalist; you can even hear some funny jokes from her. The application is suitable for all models of Android devices and is already freely available.

We have long dreamed of creating a robot that would be as similar to a human as possible or would be much more perfect than a human. And the main task of the developers is to teach the droid to talk and think. And it is also desirable that each of us be able to afford this robot. In general, there are quite a lot of requirements. However, with the widespread use of mobile phones and tablets, all of them, without exception, are easily implemented. And now we already have Google Assistant, Siri, Dusya and other voice assistants. Yes, they are very good and smart, but they lack one thing - sensible Russian. Therefore, the task of the Yandex developers was a very specific question: to teach the robot to understand Russian-language commands. And finally, the Yandex Alice assistant is working in full mode, testing is over and the “beta” prefix can be discarded with pleasure. We really hope that the developers took into account all the requirements and wishes of users and, ultimately, are satisfied with the result. And today Alice can perform many different miracles:

This is how Yandex Alice works on Android:

  • You can ask your assistant any question; if she doesn’t know the answer, she will find it on the Internet
  • Alice will easily tell you the weather forecast, find the desired address and even build a route
  • The application will share information about establishments - cafes, restaurants, hotels, hostels, business centers
  • The assistant is well versed in politics, culture, art and other areas, she will be happy to find current news from around the world
  • If Alice is in a good mood, she will even sing you a song or tell you a joke!

In general, this girl has a lot of advantages. But that’s what testing is for, to be able to avoid mistakes in the future, and the developers, in our opinion, did this very well. We hope that in the near future the program will win the hearts of millions and acquire even more new unique abilities. But now we offer to download Yandex Alice as an excellent alternative to foreign voice assistants who cannot speak Russian. It is impossible not to note the great work of the authors of the program; their project has indeed become very significant. Alice turned out to be a smart and, importantly, humorous interlocutor. Therefore, you will have something to talk to her about and even discuss.

Download the Alice Yandex Assistant app for Android for free you can follow the link below.