Case file: a category that formed
Why did early voice assistants fail, and when did they become viable?
Formed since 2026-10-25 · ledger #71
Deep-learning speech recognition (2012) made open-ended voice commands usable.
Short answer
Wildfire Communications (1992) sold a speech-based electronic secretary from 1994 that answered calls and took voice commands; Orange bought it for $142M in 2000 and ended the product in 2005 for lack of use. Speech recognition before deep learning made too many errors for open-ended requests. Deep neural networks cut recognition errors sharply from 2012, and Siri (2011) and Alexa (2014) followed.
- Killing constraint
- Speech recognition accuracy
E7 Algorithmic step - Crossing
- 2012
Deep neural networks adopted for speech recognition in production systems. - Who won
- Amazon Alexa
founded 2014
A voice assistant fails if it mishears a large share of requests; pre-2012 recognisers did.
Graveyard
Companies that died proving people wanted this. Capital shown where it was disclosed.
| Company | Years | Capital | How it died | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire Communications | 1992–2005 | — | Bought by Orange for $142M in 2000; Orange ended the product in 2005 | source M |
Who won once the constraint crossed
- Amazon Alexa (founded 2014) — launched with the Echo, November 2014 source