
Snips AIR: an open source, private, blockchain-based alternative to Amazon Echo - mfester
https://vimeo.com/271650312
======
StavrosK
I've always wanted a trustless, decentralized, proof-of-work-based alternative
to proprietary devices like Alexa and Google Home.

Oh, wait, I didn't. What I've wanted is some nice open hardware with a good ML
model for recognizing speech. I don't know what a blockchain is doing here.

~~~
mfester
And I do invite you to try out our voice platform, running 100% on-device on
Raspberry Pi 3 or equivalent (and soon MCUs). We're on par with Amazon, Google
et al. in terms of performance:

\- [https://makers.snips.ai/](https://makers.snips.ai/)

\- [https://github.com/snipsco/snips-nlu](https://github.com/snipsco/snips-
nlu)

\- [https://medium.com/snips-ai/snips-nlu-is-an-open-source-
priv...](https://medium.com/snips-ai/snips-nlu-is-an-open-source-private-by-
design-alternative-to-dialogflow-amazon-lex-and-other-nlu-a95dbe16f4a1)

~~~
StavrosK
Oh I know, I've tried it and that's why I like what you guys have been doing.
The missing piece of the puzzle is a decent hardware kit, but putting a
blockchain on any of this is completely unnecessary.

~~~
mfester
Totally agree that we need decent, open hardware, and that's why we're set on
building it :) This will take some time, but in the mean time, we've launched
a "Maker Kit" ([https://makers.snips.ai/kit/](https://makers.snips.ai/kit/))
so that everyone can get started building voice assistants for their home that
don't listen in.

The blockchain is a key ingredient in what we are trying to build, that is,
100% private AI assistants. We will detail this in our upcoming white paper.

~~~
StavrosK
Oh I'm sure that a blockchain is a key ingredient, I'm just not sure why
_your_ blockchain is a key ingredient. There are thousands of other coins you
can use here instead of fragmenting the space even more and spending
development effort on yet another blockchain.

I know that the goal of your blockchain is "cash in on that sweet sweet ICO
hype", I just wish you either didn't or that you were more upfront about it.

------
rhindi
Hi everyone!

I am a co-founder at Snips. This is a new product we are working on, which is
due for next year

You can read more about it here [https://medium.com/snips-ai/snips-air-a-
private-by-design-op...](https://medium.com/snips-ai/snips-air-a-private-by-
design-open-source-decentralized-voice-assistant-a31e27fb799b)

We will be publishing our whitepaper in the coming weeks, and are welcoming
any feedback!

Cheers

------
mfester
Hi! I am co-founder of Snips ([https://www.snips.ai](https://www.snips.ai)),
and happy to share a big announcement with you: in the end of 2019, we will
start shipping Snips AIR ([https://air.snips.ai](https://air.snips.ai)), the
first open source, private by design voice assistant running on the
blockchain! If you want to learn more, we are hosting a livestream Q&A session
tomorrow Wednesday, May 30th at 6pm CET, with my co-founder, Rand Hindi. Let
us know you'll be there by filling this form:
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8n6ER5OrSBH_w5kwp...](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8n6ER5OrSBH_w5kwpeByK70yxTrWKRpMNPcx-
C__TeAqasQ/viewform), and we will send the link to the livestream prior to the
event.

~~~
pilingual
Wait what? I upvoted your previous announcement a few days ago but I didn’t
dig in.

Why is this blockchain based? This sounds incongruous.

~~~
bluehatbrit
I came to ask the same thing, I don't understand what part of the core
offering (voice assistant) requires the block chain. I can see how you might
be able to shoehorn it in there, but it doesn't seem very practical or useful
for customers. There's also very little about its use on the website.

~~~
mfester
Hi bluehatbrit. We will publish our whitepaper in a few weeks, which will
thoroughly detail the usecases for our blockchain, and how it fits in our
roadmap of building 100% private voice assistants.

------
SheinhardtWigCo
This is just another token scam.

~~~
rhindi
I can guarantee it is not! We are a VC backed, 60 people AI team from Europe,
having worked on AI for a few years. This is a new product we are launching
next year

------
acoye
"[…] Download features from the OpenSkillStore, based on the blockchain"

I wonder, does it work with a contract on a public blockchain like ethereum or
does it run on Snips's own blockchain?

If so is there a white / yellow paper we can dig into?

~~~
rhindi
Hey! We are publishing the whitepaper in a few weeks. We use a blockchain in a
number of places, both on the consumer side for the skills marketplace, and on
the developer side for federated learning.

