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This Hacker Made Amazon’s Alexa, Google Now, and Siri Command One Another

Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
April 19, 2016, 2:13 PM ET
Apple Poised to Sell 10 Million IPhones in Record Debut
A customer tries the Siri voice assistant function on an Apple Inc. iPhone 5 at a Telstra Corp. store on George Street in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Apple Inc. is poised for a record iPhone 5 debut and may not be able to keep up with demand as customers line up from Sydney to New York to pick up the latest model of its top-selling product. The device hits stores in eight countries today at 8 a.m. local time, giving customers in Australia the first chance to buy the device. Photographer: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Ian Waldie—Bloomberg via Getty Images

What could be better than asking a virtual assistant for help? How about asking a virtual assistant to summon another one to call upon yet another one?

A developer by the name of Leon Nicholls engineered an amusing relay between the voice-powered assistants of top tech giants. He created a cheeky chain of command between Amazon’s (AMZN) Alexa, Google (GOOG) Now, and Apple’s (AAPL) Siri.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjlVUtKZ4BM&w=560&h=315]

First, Nicholls rigged up a cheap, modifiable computer known as a Raspberry Pi with Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit, a collection of tools that lets users program new features into the voice service. Then he asked this homemade machine to query an Amazon Echo intelligent speaker system sitting beside it on a tabletop.

“Ask Alexa how to use Siri,” Nicholls commands, sparking the electronic exchange.

“Alexa, ask Google how to enable ‘Hey Siri,'” the device orders, passing the baton.

“Okay Google,” Amazon’s black cylinder replies, using keywords that activate a Google Nexus 6P phone at its base. “How do I enable ‘Hey Siri’?”

The phone pauses to search for an answer—on Google, of course.

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“According to Macworld,” the handset says before launching into a tutorial excerpted from the Apple-obsessed blog. Then it utters the magic words: “Hey Siri.”

An iPhone 6S takes a moment to recognize the call. It awakens, asking no person or device in particular, “Yes?”

Siri is left hanging, and the conversation reaches a dead end. (Notably absent in Nicholl’s pecking order: Microsoft’s (MSFT) Cortana.)

While the companies behind these voice systems stake out their territory through a combination of hardware and software, all vying for a share of the nascent market for virtual assistants, it’s amusing how a little droll hacking can get them to chatter amongst themselves. The more the merrier, no?

About the Author
Robert Hackett
By Robert Hackett
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