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Why We’re Different
Voice is coming to every device, every platform and every household globally. The technology is becoming a critical part of nearly every technology stack and has a growing presence within the home as an AI assistant.
This calls for voice to be flexible, customizable, vendor-neutral, and privacy-focused; things that the proprietary voice assistants on the market today don’t offer.
Mycroft’s open platform differs from products like Alexa or Assistant in four important ways. Data privacy, customization, user agency, and open data.
Privacy – Mycroft’s platform provides users with privacy by deleting queries in real time. User data is not mined, aggregated, processed or sold.
Customization – The agent can be customized by changing the wake word, voice, and even the user experience.
User Agency – Mycroft is also the first assistant that embraces the concept of user agency–other voice assistants don’t represent users, they represent the companies that own them. Mycroft is different, it represents end users.
Open Data – Mycroft is publishing data from users who have decided to opt-in. This open data set is being used to improve wakeword spotting, speech to text transcription, natural language understanding, and speech synthesis.
Mycroft is a full feature voice platform that can be deployed anywhere, or used in conjunction with our devices. Our next generation hardware device, Mark II is a wireless smart speaker that plays music, set timers, search for general knowledge and has everything else the public has come to expect from a state-of-the-art voice assistant.
Mycroft AI Crowdfunding History
In the fall of 2015, we went to Kickstarter and Indiegogo to see if there was a market for our idea. We raised $193,000 USD and turned Mycroft from a project into a company. We fulfilled all crowdfunding orders in July of 2017 – putting Mark I units in the hands of 1,500 backers. Between these two dates, we’ve progressed rapidly, growing our team from 9 to 20, and have watched voice transform from a niche technology into the next big thing.
Our first crowdfunding campaign sold an advance prototype, Mark I. Still an open source, open hardware voice assistant, it was targeted at the makers and hackers. Mark II is for all consumers, flexible, customizable, open, and privacy-focused; something the current technologies don’t offer.
Mycroft Launches an Open Alternative to Alexa and Assistant
Want a voice-enabled speaker, but concerned with transparency and privacy? Mycroft provides the answer.
Palo Alto, CA, January 25, 2018 – Mycroft AI has announced the pending release of an open source equivalent to Amazon Echo and Google Home. The Mark II smart speaker is powered by the Mycroft intelligent assistant, an open source full feature voice platform.
The company’s latest device, Mark II, has been designed to provide an open alternative to Google Home or Amazon Echo. The Mark II is a consumer-ready smart speaker with a built-in screen, optional camera, and state of the art microphone array with noise cancellation and beamforming. These improvements to the Mark I improve wakeword spotting and allow user barge in.
Mycroft’s open platform differs from products like Alexa or Siri in four important ways. Data privacy, customization, user agency and open data. Mycroft’s platform provides users with privacy by deleting queries as they come in. The agent can also be customized by changing the wake word, voice and even the user experience. Mycroft is also the first assistant that embraces the concept of user agency–other voice assistants don’t represent users, they represent the companies that own them. Mycroft is different, it represents end users. Finally, Mycroft is using data from users who have opted in to publish an open data set that can be used to improve wakeword spotting, speech to text transcription, natural language understanding and speech synthesis.
The Mark II is also completely open. Open hardware, open software and open data. Any company interested in deploying voice-enabled products can use the design as a baseline. Mycroft has already demonstrated its technology in a Jaguar F-Type sports car and is working with a number of major brands to deploy custom voice solutions.
“The Mark II will be a game changer,” says Mycroft CEO Joshua Montgomery, “deploying an intelligent personal assistant will no longer be a hundred million dollar proposition. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to have a custom voice agent and, importantly, they won’t have to give up their privacy to do it.”
Amazon sold an estimated 5.2 million Echo units in 2016, and the voice assistant was the best selling product across their e-commerce platform in 2017. Soon voice will be part of every platform, every device and every household globally. The market is expected to reach $25 billion by 2020, but it lacks an open, neutral, independent, and privacy-minded alternative.
“We see voice as an important part of every human machine interface going forward,” said founder Joshua Montgomery, “our job is to make sure that everyone has access to the technology. We are democratizing voice and creating a level playing field for industry.”
Founded in 2015, Mycroft is the open source answer to Siri or Alexa. Mycroft has strong relationships with the open source community and is rolling out across all of the major open operating systems in 2018. Mycroft’s has received financial investments from Jaguar Land Rover, 500 Startups, Techstars and Kickstarter backers in more than 56 countries and 38 states.
His work passion is to foster creativity, participation and responsibility.
His vision is that by incorporating transparency and openness into all aspects of business we can improve resilience and sustainability.
Michael is an adamant believer and contributor to open-access AI and open source programming.
