Google Assistant is 17% More Accurate Than Alexa in Spanish: Report
Google Assistant is more accurate in its Spanish responses than Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, according to a new study from digital agencies ISDI and Webedia. The research looked at how well the two voice assistants performed in Spanish and was carried out in tandem with a survey asking how and why people in Spain use voice assistants.
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To conduct the study, the researchers asked Google Assistant and Alexa more than 2,800 questions sorted in eight verticals, including cars, consumer tech, travel, fashion, and entertainment. The study was based on a similar one conducted by Perficient Digital in English. Overall, the researchers found that Google Assistant responded accurately 57% of the time, 17% higher than Alexa. Similarly, Google Assistant responded incorrectly to 10% of the questions, compared to Alexa’s 15%. Both voice assistants didn’t recognize a notable number of the queries, but even then, Google Assistant out-performed Alexa, with a rate of unrecognized questions of 33% to 45%.
There was some variation when it came to the subject matter as well. The voice assistants understood and responded more accurately to questions about finance and entertainment than any other topic. Why there should be such a wide difference in response quality depending on subject or voice assistant isn’t clear. It may be because of where the information comes from originally. A little less than half of Google’s responses were based on an external source, compared to just 15% of Alexa’s responses. Google Assistant’s accuracy in Spanish fits with what some other tests have found in English. For instance, the Voice Assistant IQ test from Loup Ventures has repeatedly put Google Assistant in the lead, though Alexa has been closing the gap.
Satisfaction and Concern
While voice assistants have a lot of room for improvement in Spanish, that doesn’t mean people in Spain aren’t using them. In the survey, 54% of people in Spain reported using voice technology in at least one form. Of those who use a voice assistant, 87% reported they use their smartphone to access it, while about one in five said they called on a voice assistant using a smart speaker or their car or both. Users are pretty happy with them, too, with about 70% saying they are satisfied with the technology.
As is often cited in other surveys, though, privacy and security concerns have made some people reluctant to adopt voice assistant technology. The survey found that 64% do not feel safe when using voice for important transactions, and 42% are worried about privacy. All of this data suggests that voice assistant developers face the same opportunities and obstacles in Spain as they do elsewhere in the world. Addressing the issues of privacy and improving language accuracy could make Spain, and potentially other Spanish-speaking markets, major hubs for voice technology.
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