If you are interested in how to install and use the voice assistant Alice from Yandex, then you are at the right place, and in this article I will tell you about it. They say the future has already arrived. Voice assistants and self-learning computer systems, previously existing only in the works of science fiction writers, are gradually becoming an integral part of our life. The recently released "Alice" from the "Yandex" company will help in obtaining the information we need (weather, convenient route, exchange rates, etc.). And the use of neural networks in its functionality will make it possible to recognize even scraps of words spoken by a person.
Surely many users are familiar with the popular voice assistants Siri (Apple), Google Assistant (Google), Bixby (Samsung), Cortana (Microsoft), Alexa (Amazon). All of them are able to distinguish human speech by performing a basic set of user commands (providing the required information, launching applications, switching the device to one mode or another, and so on). At the same time, the vast majority of them do not always recognize the Russian speech qualitatively (and some are not at all familiar with the Russian language), since they are focused primarily on the English-speaking consumer.
The development of the company "Yandex" under the name "Alice" is designed to eliminate the mentioned drawback. The assistant has close integration with Yandex services, recognizes the Russian language well (according to the “WER” metric, the quality of speech recognition is close to human). Using neural network technology allows "Alice" to work well with intonation, and even understand fragments of words spoken by a person.
"Alice" is a high-quality development of the Yandex company
"Alice" is available for installation both as a beta program for Windows OS, and as mobile application for Android OS and iOS.
Thanks to the integration with Yandex services, when using the application, Alice will tell you about the weather, build the best route to, list snacks close to you, delight you with a joke, launch the desired music track, as well as the required application (Vkontakte, Skype, and others.) ... Also "Alice" is good friends with mathematics, performs calculations, and is well acquainted with the exchange rate.
At the same time, her capabilities allow you to maintain a relaxed third-party dialogue, communicating in the context of a topic (although it will be honest to note that she does not always understand the context).
Sometimes dialogues with "Alice" look pretty funny
The disadvantages of the application include the impossibility of working with an alarm clock, calling an "ambulance", performing other similar actions, available, for example, from "Siri".
You can find out everything about the version from our article, as well as download the mobile version of the assistant as part of the official Yandex application on Android OS (version 4.3 and higher) and iOS (version 8.1 and higher).
After installing the program, the assistant will be displayed as a search bar in the taskbar on the left.
To activate the assistant, say any of the phrases "Hello, Alice", "Okay, Alice", "Listen, Alice". The program also responds well to the phrases “Hello Yandex”, “Listen, Yandex”, “Okay, Yandex”.
After pronouncing the introductory phrase, the assistant panel will open, after which it will be necessary to ask the required question (command).
It will also be useful to ask “What can you do?” In order to get a basic idea of the application's capabilities.
By hovering the cursor over the assistant panel, and pressing the right mouse button, you can get into the settings mode. Here you can enable or disable voice activation using the above phrases, activate or deactivate voice responses, specify hotkeys to launch Alice, define its appearance (line mode or icon), and select the default browser.
Working with "Alice" on mobile devices does not differ significantly from the version of the assistant on a PC. You need to install the official Alice application from Yandex on your gadget, launch it, and then click on the button with the microphone in the center. After that, "Alice" will be activated, and you can use it and ask the questions you need.
In this case, "Alice" cannot be called when the screen is off or from the desktop. For its launch and operation, activation of the official Yandex application is required.
The launch of Alice will help Yandex compete with Google, which has long been using its own voice toolkit to work with users' search queries. At the same time, Alisa's focus on the Russian-speaking audience, high-quality Russian speech, the use of neural networks and other bonuses will guarantee Alice's great popularity in the near future. It remains only to wait.
Virtual voice assistants are designed to make it easier for us to interact with devices and services. Instead of wandering around the graphical interface looking for the menu item you want, you can simply use natural language "Play music" or "Tell me the weather." The ideal helper must correctly understand the command and execute it.
The technologies that underlie such assistants are still far from perfect, but are already capable of impressing. You may have seen them in action if you used Google Assistant, Cortana, or Siri. Now let's see how we can be pleased with "", which recently settled in the "Yandex" application.
Although you can easily hear artificial notes in the voice of the assistant, it sounds an order of magnitude more natural than its closest competitor - the Russian-language version of Siri. The actress Tatyana Shitova was involved in scoring "Alice". By the way, it was in her voice that the operating system spoke in the film "She".
In terms of recognition of Russian speech, the Yandex assistant has no equal yet, errors are relatively rare. In addition, the assistant not only recognizes phrases, but also learns to interpret them correctly. Therefore, you can use different wording and ask subsequent questions in the context of the previous ones - most likely, the service will understand you:
But mistakes in the interpretation of requests are still encountered in all voice assistants, and "Alice" is no exception here:
Another important feature of Alice, which the creators emphasize, is easy integration with other Yandex services.
For example, ask your assistant to turn on a song, and it will play in Yandex.Music. Request a translation of the phrase into another language - the assistant will open Yandex.Translate:
Alisa also knows how to display the weather forecast and build routes thanks to the meteorological service and Yandex maps. And if you need to find something on the Internet, Yandex.Poisk will help.
As for the integration with third-party applications and services on mobile devices, Alisa is not doing so well here.
The assistant can be installed on Android and iOS, but so far "Alice" makes little use of the capabilities of these platforms. So, with its help, you will not even be able to quickly set an alarm, add a reminder or a note. Siri, on the other hand, can handle these tasks easily.
Although Alice can open programs installed on the device on demand, this function does not always work. For example, the assistant launches VKontakte and Telegram without any problems, but if you ask him to open Viber, the assistant will direct you to the site of this messenger instead of the application. The assistant reacts strangely to the command "open calculator".
In addition, to contact Alice, you must first enter the Yandex application and click on the helper button (or use the shortcut for quick access if you have Android). This is not very convenient, because one of the main tasks of the voice assistant is to allow you to operate the device without hands. The same Siri, due to deep integration with iOS, can receive commands even when the screen is locked.
Yandex Assistant is also available for Windows computers as a separate program. After installing it, a search bar and a button for voice interaction with the assistant appear on the taskbar.
In addition to the functions presented in the mobile version, "Alice" for Windows can search for files on the hard disk, run desktop programs, turn off the computer or put it into sleep mode.
We have already introduced our readers to the latest development of Russian programmers, with a speech assistant from Yandex. Today we will also tell you about how to download the voice assistant Alice on your PC quickly and for free. We will also help you install Alice's voice assistant on your computer. Also today we will provide a more detailed overview of the most frequently asked questions in connection with the work of this assistant for a large army of PC users.
The new and compact software application for PCs and laptops bears the romantic and dreamy name of Alice. Fitting harmoniously into the standard taskbar on the desktop Windows desktop, this program greatly helps PC users in finding relevant information in a variety of areas and requests.
It is very easy to download and install the program even for novice users. When performing these actions, you do not need to select a directory on the disk to place the program and do not need to perform other routine actions. You need to do the following:
It would not be entirely correct not to say a word about Alice's shortcomings and shortcomings. For all its ingenuity and resourcefulness, this service is distinguished by periodic inaccuracy of answers. This, in turn, stems from the incorrect recognition of speech issues. It also sometimes happens that the assistant launches the wrong program that was asked. And the alarm clock and automatic turning on of the PC can simply be ignored.
These shortcomings in the work of your voice assistant, invented by Yandex, are compensated for by the ability to disable the voice function. You can download this application only as an advanced search engine on the Windows taskbar, and it is also possible to configure various actions with files and change the browser to view the results of the search performed.
In general, our domestic software from Yandex has successfully pushed Cortana 2 out of the market for information services and components. Who does not know what Cortana 2 is, you can ask about it ... Alice!
This event can be called somewhat unique, since previously there were no voice assistants that would have been originally developed for Russian-speaking users.
Alice is still "learning" to help users and does not have all the functions that are inherent in more long-playing voice assistants.
Quickly find a variety of information on the Internet and reproduce it. Want to know what tetrahydrochloride is, or how fast an angry cheetah is capable of? Alice will find the answer in a matter of moments.
Photography Now she knows what the ISS is
Photo And knows that it's time to take bitcoins Show weather. If you have geolocation enabled, then the assistant will quickly find information about the current state of the weather for your area, as well as the forecast for the near future.
Photo Weather Forecast - Easy! 
Photo And even that the year is a leap year 
Photo She thinks it is strange 
Photography And sometimes even correct Find the necessary objects on the map. For example, if you wanted to go to a cinema, grocery store, shopping center, beauty salon or any other institution marked on Yandex.Maps, the assistant will tell you where it is located.
Photo And ready to go 
Photo And even knows the nearest bar Help on the road. At your very first request, Alice will tell you about traffic jams in your area or lay a route to the desired place, helpfully informing how much time you will spend on the way.
Photo Traffic routes 
Photo What kind of chair is this stool? Share the latest news. Moreover, the "girl" puts full-fledged news headlines in her response, and not a simple link to the main page of the Yandex.News site.
Photo Such news 
Photography And such an economy Communicate with the owner of the device. It was simply impossible not to mention this skill of Alice: the assistant will gladly tell you a story or anecdote, with humor will answer even the most ridiculous question, and she may even react with rudeness to attempts to pester or humiliate her.
In a word, Alice is real, Russian.
Photo She will support any conversation 
Photography Even the strangest Learn. The neural network on which the application is running can learn in the process of interacting with users. In addition, the users themselves can participate in voting "for" or "against" different answers of Alice. Thanks to this, the "girl" becomes more and more intelligent, capable and similar to a living person.
Photo Here's what she suggested at first 
Photography But then I learned With all this, the assistant still cannot cope with a number of simple tasks: for example, she cannot call the user from contacts, reproduce the list of planned tasks, set a timer, create a note.
However, from situations that are beyond her power, Alice comes out with the same humor. It is not excluded that in the near future all these functions will be finalized (according to the assistant herself, the efficiency of the modifications depends on the "programmer Alexei").
If Apple device users are already accustomed to Siri and take voice assistants for granted, then for Windows fans, Alice is a fundamentally new phenomenon.
Photography Even a rare Adobe XD it can open As you know, the popular operating system also has its own basic voice assistant - Cortana, however, for several years of existence, she never spoke Russian.
And although the current Alice is a tool rather for entertainment than for real help, it is still a significant step forward in the domestic IT market.
If we compare the functionality of the assistants, then Siri, who knows how to perform those tasks with which Alice cannot yet cope, will receive the palm.
Photo Alice is not a master of notes | picture iPhones.ru If we take into account the usability of the application and the prospects for its development, then the answer will not be so unambiguous. Alice now gives personalized, meaningful and emotional answers to questions, to which Siri answers with banal links to relevant sites and articles on the Internet.
Photo But she has a taste | picture iPhones.ru Another plus in Alice's piggy bank is that the assistant is voiced by a real, living person (Tatyana Shitova, who voices Scarlett Johansson in Russian-language versions of foreign films). Siri, on the other hand, speaks in a synthetic voice, and therefore communicating with her is not so pleasant and fun.
To install, just download the application from the App store, Google play or install a Windows app. It is ready to work right out of the box and no additional manipulation is required.
All good day or evening. Today I decided to tell you about some real days spent with Yandex voice assistant Alice. This story will be about how at first nothing worked out with her, but then suddenly everything became good with us. To heighten the effect, I also installed Google's voice assistant and asked him all the questions. Read on to find out who turned out to be smarter - me, Alice or Google.
As soon as a message appeared on my favorite news site about the release of Alice, I decided that I wanted to install it. At that time, Google had no idea what kind of miracle it was, and I don't use Yandex. Therefore, I was puzzled by a search on Google Play Market, where I found only the Yandex Beta application for the query "Alice Yandex". He installed it.
Later, having figured it out, I realized that it was necessary to install the Yandex application without the "beta", where the voice assistant Alice was placed. However, it does not matter. Lest you get confused, here are the links to the smartphone app.
I will not tell you how to install it. You can guess it yourself. If everything works out, then after opening the application you will see a lilac microphone icon, poke at it and start asking.
And if you want to install Alice on your Windows computer, you will have to be content with the "beta" of the program.
I myself live near Minsk in a small town. We all understand that developers, first of all, make applications for residents of megacities. Therefore, it was doubly interesting how Alice would cope with my provincial requests. Here, Yandex also provoked a press release, where it promised that the voice assistant would understand live speech.
The first question was: "where is the nearest service station." Alice replied that in the city of Lipetsk there is a certain Stella, who works from 10 am to 9 pm (later it turned out that it was a clothing store). Looking on the map that it was about 1000 km to go to it, I suspected something was wrong. I checked the location by asking the question "where am I" - and got the answer "Gulf of Guinea". Two questions arose at once. Is the nearest service station from the Gulf of Guinea only in Lipetsk? But what about Togo or Burkina Faso, there is definitely at least one repair shop for two countries, but there should be. And why does Alice think I'm at sea?
Dealing with the second question was easier, and I started with it. I got into the settings of my own, which I only recently praised in the review for the accuracy and speed of GPS. Everything was included. Then I opened the Google Chrome browser and entered the "nearest service station" directly into the search, having received the options in Minsk. Not bad already. So the location works. Although there are also, of course, auto repair shops.
I asked Alice what the weather is now. And that - lo and behold - told the weather for my city, and not the African expanses. "It seems to work!" - I thought, and let's sprinkle the most relevant questions at that time:
By the way, I marked all the answers that did not suit me as unsatisfactory. And Alice regularly apologized in the style of “the bot that does nothing is not mistaken”. And that's nice.
To the question "Is it good to live in Belarus?" - answered that she DOES NOT KNOW such a country. Then I became completely sad and told her everything that I think of her. I will not retell this part of the conversation in detail, but the words "stupid", "bastard" and "you study badly" were present there.
The situation was defused by Alice herself, when I, tired of preaching her, asked to tell an anecdote. That's really funny! Try asking Alice yourself to tell a joke ...
Only, it seemed, life got better and Alice began to understand where we are with her. How it all went wrong again.
On the question "where to buy bread" she sent me to the city of Novokuznetsk, st. Vokzalnaya, 65. On the one hand, the distance of 4,500 kilometers did not suit me, since my wife asked me to bring it quickly. On the other hand, I thought, what the hell is not joking, - I will trust artificial intelligence. I'm not going for a walk, but on business!
The long journey required a large supply of fuel. To the question "Where to refuel the car?" received an answer from Alisa: "Fast and Furious", Kanash, Kanashskaya street, 65, is now closed. There was some logic in this - looking at the map, I was convinced that it was on the road, only 1,500 kilometers away from me. "Until I get there, it will open!" - I decided and began to get ready for the road for bread for 4.5 thousand kilometers.
Yandex Alice found a gas station on the way My wife, having learned that I was going to the Novokuznetsk store, did not let me go. I was upset and again said a lot of unnecessary things to Alice. This time, read it, everything is censored there:
In order to somehow defuse the nervous mood due to the failed shopping, I talked with Alice about the cats. Here we agreed:
Tired of the uncertainty of Alice's answers, I decided to continue the experiment and ask more precise questions, so to speak, georeferenced. "McDonald's" Yandex Alice did not want to show it either in Minsk or in Moscow (after Novokuznetsk, going to Moscow for a hamburger seemed a trifling matter).
But a coffee shop in my town to the question "where to drink coffee" prompted! I realized that artificial intelligence works! And he asked the most important question:
Asking another provocative question, is Putin a good person? Alice replied that she did not know how to talk about such topics. Um, maybe she's planning to conquer the world without him? Here's a surprise for him! ..
Then there were many questions and strange answers. Let me remind you that I was near Minsk. I was sent to the "nearest" school in Israel, to a polyclinic in the Republic of North Ossetia. I got tired of Yandex Alice's offers to travel the world and went to bed.
The next day I installed the Allo app. It has a built-in voice assistant based on Google's artificial intelligence. I asked all the same questions and got quite decent answers. All offers of schools, shops and clinics were in the area of 1-70 km from me. No Africa and the endless expanses of Russia. Accuracy is not bad for a province!
When asked if Putin was good, Google was more categorical - suggesting to watch the video.
And in order to finally be convinced of Alice's incapacity, I again talked to her on the same topics and asked all the same questions.
And lo and behold! Yandex Alice stopped sending me to hell, and all routes were limited to my regional center.
I will no longer torment you with long stories. Alice corrected herself! If it were not for my wife, I would have found out about this at the entrance to the city of Kanash, Kanashskaya Street, 1.5 thousand kilometers from home in search of bread.
The purpose of this story is not to criticize Yandex Alice. Although there is a reason! The interface of Yandex's voice assistant, apparently, "borrowed" from Google. The name Alice - oo-o-very much resembles the name of the voice assistant Alexa from Amazon. The service is clearly having some kind of problems with working on mobile devices. When enabled, when other applications are quietly using location data, Alice is unstable and helpless. And also the constant opening of search results in a separate browser tab. Here in the Google "Hello" application, this function is implemented more conveniently. But the very experience of communicating with a voice assistant that understands phrases, not keywords, is very interesting.
Will I use Alice to find information and plot the routes I need? Never! Maybe in a year or two, or sooner, when Alice will conquer the world. But I will also not use the Google Assistant. The technologies of artificial self-learning intelligence are just finding their place among people. They still have a lot to learn, but for now - these are good toys. Install them, turn them on and ask questions. But don't trust them!
