A Poly-assistantic Lifestyle

Ready or not, artificial intelligence and digital assistants are taking over our lives. Does everyone rely on one? Hell no. Weirdly enough, it is not even a generational thing. For instance, my fiancee absolutely hates digital assistants and quickly disables them as soon as she can. However, for those like me, that love using a digital assistant, how do you deal with all of them? And, more importantly, who do you pick to help you at any given time?

Oddly enough, I have tried to lock myself in to one ecosystem and thus, one digital assistant. However, that is just not an option for me. Between my phone, watch, and home speaker, I am pretty happy with my Google Assistant; she (yes I call it a she) does it all for me. I can get my morning news, agenda, and weather from her as well as have her play me music, add to my shopping list, and set some reminders. She has been a trusty friend and assistant for a few years now.

But wait, what about my Xbox and PC? Oh yes, there is my acquaintance Cortana. She is quite handy for turning my Xbox on and off (with the Kinect) as well as opening programs on my PC. I did love using Cortana when I had my Lumia and Microsoft Band, but alas, Microsoft forced me to rethink my loyalty. At one point, I even tried using Cortana with my old phone, but she just never got the job done the way that the Assistant does.

What about Alexa? She is handy on my Kindle (although I rarely use her), and I think she would be a great partner if I was fully invested with Amazon, but she just does not have the power of Google Assistant. What about Siri? I am no longer the Apple fanboy that I used to be, but from what I hear, Siri needs a lot of work. And Bixby, well, I will not even delve in to that.

So how do I deal with my poly-assistantistic lifestyle? I go to my Google Assistant for everything I possibly can. I would love for her to be on Windows at some point, and if they found a way to root Fire OS 5.6, I would do that in a heartbeat. For those rare times she cannot be of help, I guess I can ask the digital assistant that shares a name with my favorite blue video game character. But, this is just my experience. I would be interested in hearing how others utilize digital assistants in their day, and who is their favorite wanna-be J.A.R.V.I.S.