A Wired exclusive interview with engineer Qi Lu, Baidu's chief operating officer.
What is Baidu’s equivalent of Siri or Cortana?
We are focusing on two platforms to bring our customers and partners together. The first platform we call DuerOS. DuerOS is a natural language-based, conversation-based, human computing platform. Very much like Alexa, Google Now, Siri, or Cortana in the United States. The only difference is DuerOS is so far ahead of anybody else. DuerOS in China has accumulated more conversation-based skill sets than anybody else. We have 10 major domains [and] over 100 sub-domains of conversational skills that we developed. We’re also building up an emerging partner ecosystem. So our partners are building more and more skill sets. Amazon, perhaps, has more than Baidu right now, because they have a larger partner ecosystem in the United States. But compared to most companies, in China, we’re clearly leading.
Number two, we are also clear leaders in partners. DuerOS today is in over 100 brands of private home appliances, whether it’s refrigerators, air conditioners, TVs, storytelling machines, or speakers.
How does the US market for voice technology compare to the Chinese market?
The home environment is very different. Because we’re talking about voice interactions. The acoustic environment, the pattern of noises, will be very different. Alexa, Echo, and Cortana are optimized for American homes. In my view, this only works in North America and maybe a portion of Europe. Essentially, the assumption is that you have spacious homes; you have several rooms. In China, that’s not the case at all. For our target, even for the young generation with high incomes, typically they have 60 square meters [645 square feet], sometimes 90 square meters [970 square feet].
We have better opportunities to globalize DuerOS, because guess what? A home in Japan, a home in India, or a home in Brazil, is a lot closer to a home in China than a home in North America.
Source: Wired