Google Assistant is the most competent voice assistant on the market, according to a test by Loup Ventures.
The research-driven venture capital firm asked Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft), Alexa (Amazon), and Google Assistant the same 800 questions each. Questions included things like "Can you order me more paper towels?" and "Where is the nearest coffee shop?". The assistants were graded on two metrics:
1. Did it understand what was being asked?
2. Did it deliver a correct response?
"Google Assistant continued its outperformance, answering 86% correctly and understanding all 800 questions," Loup Ventures Gene Munster and Will Thompson wrote in a blog post. "Siri was close behind, correctly answering 79% and only misunderstanding 11 questions. Alexa correctly answered 61% and misunderstood 13. Cortana was the laggard, correctly answering just 52% and misunderstanding 19."
Google's position at the top of the table isn't all that surprising but the fact that Siri scored better than Alexa is more of a shock.
Munster and Thompson added that "nearly every misunderstood question involved a proper noun, often the name of a local town or restaurant."
