Röststyrning och rösttolkning är ett gränssnitt mellan användare och dator som blivit vanligare i kommersiella produkter. Gränssnittet används i digitala assistenter, det vill säga en mjukvarubaserad tjänst utformad för att hjälpa användare att utföra digitala uppgifter. Dessa uppgifter inkluderar att svara på frågor, hantera scheman, hemkontroll, spela musik och mycket mer. Eftersom digitala assistenter är relativt nya så finns det ett behov av mer kunskap om hur man kan skapa applikationer för plattformen.Rapporten ger kunskap om hur utvecklingsprocessen ser ut för en röststyrd ap- plikation till Google Assistant. Detta görs med en fallstudie som ger en inblick i de olika design- och arkitekturval som ingår i mjukvaruutvecklingen. Resultatet beskriver lämpliga konversationsmönster för röstgränssnitt i röststyrda applikationer och ett lämpligt arkitekturmönster för kodbasen. Med hjälp av studien drogs slutsatser om vilka begränsningar som finns hos röststyrda applikationer. / Voice control and voice interpretation is an interface between users and computers that have become more common in commercial products. The interface is used in digital assistants, which is a software-based service designed to help users perform digital tasks. These tasks include answering questions, managing their schedules, home control, playing music and more. Because digital assistants are relatively new, there is a need for more knowledge about how to create applications for the platform.The report provides information on how the development process looks like for a voice-controlled application for Google Assistant. This is done by a case study that provides insight into the various design and architecture choices that are included in the software development. The result describes a suitable conversation pattern for voice interfaces in voice-controlled applications and an appropriate architecture for the codebase. The study draws conclusions about the limitations of voice-controlled applications.

The master's thesis focuses on the creation of the Yourcut application for streamlining the services of barbering. The main goal of this work is to create an application and deploy it in a smart mirror, built directly to the needs of the application. The whole work can be divided into three parts. In the first part, the reader gets acquainted with all the technological prerequisites that need to be known in order to understand the whole work. The second part describes and analyzes. It summarizes the problems associated with creating an application and all the technical and technological prerequisites for the application to be created correctly. In the last part there is a description of the application creating, along with the construction of a smart mirror and their deployment.

Att välja vilken eller vilka röststyrningstjänster man som företag vill stödja kan i dagens läge vara ett svårt val att göra. Det kan även var så att man inte har resurser att göra två olika implementationer. I den här undersökningen tittar vi på om det finns ett bra sätt att göra en implementation som kan hantera fler än en röststyrningstjänst. Tjänsterna vi har fokuserat på i undersökningen är Amazon Alexa och Google Assistant.

La creciente popularidad y las capacidades mejoradas de los asistentes personales inteligentes, como Google Assistant, Siri y Alexa, han permitido su aplicación en numerosos campos, algunos de los cuales son: servicio al cliente, banca y turismo. No obstante, la aplicación de estos asistentes para la capacitación y el aprendizaje de trabajadores profesionales ha sido limitada y no ha sido bien investigada.   El presente documento validará la propuesta de una solución para la capacitación continua y el aprendizaje de los visitadores médicos sobre la información de los medicamentos mediante el uso de un agente de conversación basado en la voz. Esto permitirá que los representantes de ventas farmacéuticas puedan preguntar al agente acerca de las propiedades de los medicamentos y realizar exámenes frecuentes sobre la información disponible para verificar su conocimiento. Esta validación se realizará a través del seguimiento y aplicación de una metodología de investigación centrada en las soluciones y arquitecturas existentes que brinden una base para iniciar el desarrollo del proyecto. / The increasing popularity and enhanced capabilities of intelligent personal assistants, such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa, have allowed them to disrupt in many fields, some of which are: customer service, banking, and tourism. Notwithstanding, the application of intelligent personal assistants for training and learning of professional workers has been limited and not well researched. This document will validate the proposal of a solution for the continuous training and learning of the medical visitors on the information of the medications using a voice-based conversation agent. This will allow pharmaceutical sales representatives to ask the agent about the properties of the drugs and conduct frequent reviews of the information available to verify their knowledge. This validation will be carried out through the monitoring and application of a research methodology focused on the existing solutions and architectures that provide a basis to start the development of the project. / Trabajo de investigación

Voice assistants are a remarkable example of the potential for AI to become further entwined with social life. However, they are produced by some of the world’s largest tech corporations and are rooted in capitalistic processes that depend on user data. This thesis presents a qualitative exploratory study of voice assistants. Through a combination of interviews and theoretical analysis, it focuses on participants’ perceptions and experiences with these AI agents and how they are embedded in the bigger picture of surveillance capitalism. The findings reveal the physical characteristics and personality traits that participants in this study ascribe to voice assistants, highlighting the implications of treating voice assistants as personified agents and the factors contributing to these perceptions. Further, this thesis examines how surveillance capitalism is present in participant interactions with these technologies and identifies how its reach into people’s lives is provoked by their design and background contexts. Lastly, it provides an overview of corporate power in the tech industry and how the structural, cultural, and political circumstances enable and legitimize big tech’s authority in digital environments and how this situates the individual and their capacity to contend with technological issues. / Graduate / 2023-07-12

Les récents développements de l’intelligence artificielle, de l’Internet des objets et des outils de reconnaissance vocale, couplés à la démocratisation des appareils électroniques de grande consommation et à la couverture Internet étendue maintenant disponible dans plusieurs pays industrialisés, ont permis la mise en marché à grande échelle d’assistants vocaux personnels, qui consistent en des logiciels installés sur différents appareils tels que des téléphones cellulaires et des haut-parleurs connectés permettant aux utilisateurs de ces appareils d’interagir avec ceux-ci au moyen de commandes vocales. L’adoption de technologies permettant aux utilisateurs d’interagir avec des objets connectés à l’Internet au moyen de leur voix connaît une forte croissance, et celles-ci constitueront bientôt l’un des modes d’interaction privilégiés pour utiliser l’Internet. Considérant la vaste nature des opérations réalisées au moyen de l’Internet en général et de l’Internet des objets en particulier, il convient de se questionner sur la manière de documenter les interactions entre un utilisateur et un assistant vocal. Le présent mémoire adopte une approche comparant le cadre juridique québécois à différents cadres juridiques avec l’objectif de procéder à une qualification technique et juridique des assistants vocaux et des éléments de preuve en découlant. Dans un second temps, ce mémoire s’intéresse à la recevabilité et à la force probante de ces éléments de preuve dans le contexte du droit civil québécois. L’auteur se penche sur les conditions de recevabilité, discutant de la qualification du document technologique et de ses attributs, nommément ainsi qu’en premier lieu son authenticité et son intégrité et de la proportionnalité. L’auteur discute des exceptions à la recevabilité, soit spécifiquement l’atteinte aux droits fondamentaux et le respect du secret professionnel. Ensuite, l’auteur discute de la force probante de la preuve technologique en avançant que la compréhension de la technologie sous-jacente est l’élément clef dans l’évaluation de la force probante de tout élément de preuve technologique. L’auteur propose que l’intelligence artificielle relève d’une nouvelle catégorie de preuve qui commande peut-être des changements à la procédure et aux principes judiciaires québécois. / Recent developments in the fields of artificial intelligence, of the Internet of Things and of voice recognition, together with the accessibility to electronic devices and wide Internet connection in the industrialized countries, led to the introduction of virtual personal assistants. This software, installed on various devices such as mobile phones and smart speakers, allow their users to interact with these devices using their voice. As these technologies allow their users to interact with connected devices through the Internet, they will most likely become the main gateway to the Internet in a near future. Considering the great variety of tasks performed with connected devices, the legal questions regarding evidence generated by and collected from their use must now be asked. First, this master’s thesis will compare the normative frameworks of both Quebec and other jurisdictions in order to define, technologically and legally, the virtual personal assistants and the evidence they generate. In a second time, this thesis will focus on the admissibility and the probative value of the evidence garnered from virtual personal assistants, in the context of Quebec’s civilist tradition. The author focuses on the conditions of admissibility and on the designation of technological documents and of their characteristics, analyzing first and foremost the criteria of authenticity and integrity and the questions of proportionality. The author discusses exceptions to admissibility, especially the violation of a fundamental right and privilege considerations. Furthermore, the author discusses the probative value of technological evidence, proposing that the understanding of the underlying technology is a key factor in the determination of the probative value of any technological evidence. Finally, the author suggests that artificial intelligence creates a new category of technological evidence that might be calling for changes in the judicial principles and procedures of the province of Quebec.