Virtual assistants become smarter

The hybrid work format has speeded up the use of intelligent virtual assistants, for customer-facing roles as well as internal enterprise management functions

Virtual assistants are becoming more and more realistic. Even as virtual meetings have replaced in-person meetings in recent months, the rise of virtual assistants has been even more remarkable. Virtual assistants, or digital assistants, have been around for years. In the new version, they are smarter, intuitive and far more capable.

The Tingwu AI developed by tech giant Alibaba can identify and distinguish between 10 different voices in a meeting. Tingwu can transcribe conversations, summarise content and correct its mistakes as it goes along. It can understand English and several Chinese dialects.

IBM Watson digital assistant has also been updated