Dive Brief:

• Google is leveraging its background in artificial intelligence (AI) to make its technology smarter in an attempt to catch Amazon in the voice-based computing market, Bloomberg reports. Both companies want to win in the race to intertwine digital assistants into consumers' lives.

• Amazon has a strong lead, however, having launched its Alexa digital assistant well before Google. The company is also aided by its background in e-commerce, which could allow it to easily respond to customer wants and needs. Amazon also has thousands of voice-based apps already up and functioning, according to the report. 

• Google comes from a totally different background than Amazon, but could leverage its advantage in AI to help it get ahead, Bloomberg reports. Google leaders called on developers at its I/O conference last week to build services for the Google Assistant to help the company catch Amazon.

Dive Insight:

If voice-based technology continues on its current path toward market dominance, there could be huge rewards for the company that gets there first. As Amazon knows from its experience in cloud computing, getting to market first can set you up for a long ride at the top.

But Google’s edge in AI may already be showing through. Google Assistant on Google Home appears to be the smartest of the digital personal assistants, according to consulting company Stone Temple. 

Stone Temple collected a set of 5,000 questions about everyday factual knowledge to ask each personal assistant. Google Assistant was able to answer 68.1% of the questions, with more than 90% of the answers complete and correct. Though Alexa on Amazon Echo only answered 20.7% of questions, it answered questions completely and correctly 87% of the time, the second-best performance. 

Ultimately, a company that can produce a conversant machine that can actually help people, and enterprises, is the goal. But both companies still have a long way to go to get there.