Rumor: Google working on Siri competitor codenamed "Majel"

Android and Me has reportedly come across some secret details regarding "Majel," which is Google's voice control project that sounds very similar to the popular Siri. Before you start crying foul that Google is jumping on the voice control bandwagon, don't forget that Google actually included voice controlled actions and search in its own iOS app already, and Android has had functions like voice-to-txt baked in for a while. Of course, those kind of interactions don't hold a candle to the kinds of things that Siri can do, which is why Google is reportedly working on putting together "Majel."

The system is named after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and the voice for many of the computer interfaces in the sci-fi series. The project is being developed by Google's Google X experimental labs, and when it does finally appear in a way the public can use it, it will likely only do Google Searches. But the final plan is, according to a Google rep in a previous interview, that "every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It's not that there's a personality, it doesn't have a name, it's just Computer."

Sounds interesting. Competition for Siri is a good thing for us users. It sounds like Google is taking a slightly different approach than Apple, and given that Apple actually bought Siri instead of trying to develop it from scratch, odds are that whatever Google puts together might won't exceed Apple's offerings in innovation. But that's fine -- if Google comes up with something really cool, odds are we'll still be able to run both on our iOS devices anyway.

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Source: http://androidandme.com/2011/12/news/googles-response-to-sir…

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Android and Me has reportedly come across some secret details regarding "Majel," which is Google's voice control project that sounds...

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Erik Richter

If this works ANYTHING like the voice-to-text capabilities of Google Voice, I'll pass. GV couldn't transcribe a voicemail to save its life...

December 25 2011 at 1:36 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

digitalsedition

This is one area where Google definitely has an edge as their ability to handle voice exceeds what Apple is currently able to do. To build truly intelligent systems requires a LOT of data and nobody process more voice data (Google Voice), context data (Google Search), location data (Google Maps), or natural language data (Google Search and several others) than anybody else out there right now. I can actually foresee Google bypassing Apple in this area as it is heavily related to a number of their core competencies.

December 15 2011 at 10:27 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

Rob E.

Sure, Google is jumping on the bandwagon, but that's not a bad thing. Competition will only make everyone innovate faster. I think, being that we're reading this on an Apple-focused site, most of us will agree that Apple tends to out-engineer Google when it comes to ease of use and reliability, but Google will probably push for more open APIs and ability to operate with third party tools, which will hopefully spur Apple to do the same. More people working on the problems associated with making the technology practical could be very beneficial. And the fact that it's named "Majel" is almost enough to make me go Android.

December 15 2011 at 9:59 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Scott Lunsford

Another innovation from Apple that Google wants to clone.

December 14 2011 at 7:49 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Scott Lunsford's comment

Pitchy

Apple didn't invent it. They simply bought the company who invented it. Like many of the cool awesome things in iOS 5 came from Android and the jailbreak community.

I'd you are going to go with the innovation thing then give credit to the guys from MIT who came up with Siri and then formed a company to get it to market.

December 14 2011 at 11:00 PM Report abuse Permalink -2 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Pitchy's comment

Winski

While it's true that Apple didn't invent Siri, that's not the point. They own it, it was created for iPhone, and it is now more or less embedded into the iOS itself. Meantime, Google's SVP of Mobile, Andy Rubin, pooh poohed Siri stating that your phone should not be your assistant. Now they are attempting to duplicate it.

The author is correct - Google is not "jumping on the voice control band wagon". This is not about voice control, which I had on my Centris 660AV back 20 years ago. This is about intelligent voice recognition that does so much more than answer predetermined commands. For that, Google IS jumping on the band wagon.

December 15 2011 at 12:11 AM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down

tones

"I don't believe that your phone should be an assistant. Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn't be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone." - Andy Rubin -- Google's SVP of Mobile, October, 2011

Hypocrisy much? Next month Microsoft will introduce HAL...

December 14 2011 at 7:40 PM Report abuse Permalink +4 rate up rate down Reply

Rdnymllnsktr

1) If it's deeply integrated, then we won't be able to use it. It won't be like Google Maps or Goggles. It'd be integrated into the system like Siri.

2) And you say before you start crying foul that Google is jumping on the voice control bandwagon, yet they are. They are trying to get a computer personality (that they claim will be professional, without a personality) to do everything that Siri can do. So your statement there is clouded.

What's funny is since Siri was shot down in that you should not be talking to your phone, but "through it", to the other person, and then this comes up.

December 14 2011 at 7:12 PM Report abuse Permalink +3 rate up rate down Reply