What can Siri and Cortana do to catch up to Alexa and Google Assistant?

TechRepublic's James Sanders spoke with Oblong Industries John Underkoffler about how smart assistant technologies from data-driven companies like Google and Amazon are leading the market, while Siri and Cortana are falling behind. The following is an edited transcript of the interview. James Sanders: Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana are really closer to the back of the pack for smart voice assistants, while data driven companies like Google and Amazon are leading the race. What does the future hold for smart assistants and how they integrate into people's lives? John Underkoffler: I think we're at a pivotal moment for the larger field let's say, that smart assistants might be one example of, and then a set of enabling technologies like machine learning, I refuse to say AI, that tend to power them.