Google is giving away the tool it uses to understand language, Parsey McParseface

Yes, to get you to pay attention to what would otherwise be a fairly dense and nerdy thing, Google is using an homage to Boaty McBoatface for one of the software tools it's releasing today. But don't just laugh (or groan) at the name, what Google is giving developers and researchers access to is a big deal. Today, it's open-sourcing something it calls SyntaxNet and a component for it, Mr. McParseface. These are some of the tools that Google uses to understand natural language when you type it into a box or speak to Google Now.

SyntaxNet is the overall framework for parsing sentences, called a "syntactic parser." Parsey McParseface is the English language plug-in for SyntaxNet. Google claims that it can correctly identify the subjects, objects, verbs, and other grammatical building blocks of sentences as well (or, in some cases, better) as trained human linguists — achieving 94 percent accuracy on English-language news articles.

Understanding the grammatical structure of a sentence is key to helping computers act on their meaning. For a simple example, you might say "Give me the time in Paris." Depending on how you parse that sentence, it could mean "Tell me what time it is in Paris" or it could mean "When I am in Paris, tell me what time it is." Being able to even determine which of those meanings is the intended one is a super complicated process for a computer — and it can't even start unless it's able to parse the different grammatical parts of the sentence.

To figure it out, Google says that "SyntaxNet applies neural networks to the ambiguity problem" and then uses "Beam Search" to apply probabilities to multiple possible meanings at the same time before landing on the correct meaning.

Google has been on an open-sourcing tear with its machine learning platform, TensorFlow. After open sourcing it last year and then letting researchers get the piece that lets it use multiple computers, now it's putting out these other components that are built on that same platform. Google says that the "release includes all the code needed to train new SyntaxNet models on your own data, as well as Parsey McParseface, an English parser that we have trained for you and that you can use to analyze English text."

Siri Creators Introduce New AI Assistant Viv

One of the creators of the artificial intelligence (AI) behind Siri, the digital assistant acquired by Apple in 2010, today demonstrated a next-generation AI called Viv that he said could eventually let people "converse" with any smart device in the Internet of things.

Siri creator Dag Kittlaus currently runs a San Jose startup called Viv Labs, founded with fellow Siri creator Adam Cheyer. (Another Siri creator, Tom Gruber, now works for Apple.) At the Disrupt NY 2016 tech conference in New York today, Kittlaus gave a live demonstration of his company's latest creation, Viv ("viv" comes from Latin word, "vivus," which means "alive").

Kittlaus said Viv represents the next "new paradigm" for how people interact with computers. The technology's unique character comes from its use of dynamic program generation, an intelligent method for creating software on the fly depending upon the intent of a user's request.

'Software That's Writing Itself'
"We're going to use this technology to breathe life into the inanimate objects and devices of our life through conversation," Kittlaus said during his demonstration. Kittlaus gave several spoken queries to Viv during the presentation and received quick and accurate answers even to complex questions like, "Will it be warmer than 70 degrees near the Golden Gate Bridge after 5 p.m. the day after tomorrow?"

Unlike other intelligent assistants Viv uses a "computer science breakthrough" that -- after using speech recognition and determining a user's intent based on the words spoken -- automatically creates a software program to produce an accurate and relevant response to a question or request, Kittlaus said.

"This is software that's writing itself," Kittlaus said. The process, which takes just 10 milliseconds or so, enables Viv to scale in ways that other digital assistants currently cannot, he added.

Viv's Goal? 'Ubiquity'
Viv Labs plans to begin launching its AI toward the end of the year, first through a select group of partner, Kittlaus told TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino during an on-stage Q&A after the demonstration. Eventually, Viv will be opened up to developers at large to allow them to create a wide range of uses for the technology. Viv can already interact with users and enable transactions such as ordering flowers through ProFlowers or reserving a ride through Uber.

For consumers, Kittlaus said he envisions Viv becoming "the intelligent interface to everything." For developers, Viv will be the next great marketplace and channel for offering content, commerce and services, he said.

By enabling people to interact with smart devices through conversation, Viv offers an easier and more natural way to interact with computers than, say, apps do, Kittlaus said. "I think kids will be asking in future, 'How did you get along without your assistant?'" he said.

Unlike with Siri, Viv Labs has no plans to sell its technology to a larger tech firm. Instead, Kittlaus said his company is in talks with most every major firm in the world to put it on almost every device. "Our goal for this is ubiquity," he said.