I first come across this on VoiceBot. Jane Manchun Wong has found some hidden code inside Facebook Messenger that would suggest that Facebook is about to launch a voice assistant called Aloha.
Facebook Messenger Voice Assistant UI pic.twitter.com/DOMe4Nsg7v
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 21, 2018
She also found hints of audio messaging within direct messages in Instagram.
Instagram is working on voice messaging!
It appears to be non-functional as of now but the code indicates: “Voice message, press and hold to record” pic.twitter.com/897D5l57co
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 21, 2018
Is it really an assistant?
For me, this doesn’t actually look so much like an assistant. It’s more of a demonstration of a speech to text engine. And audio messaging in Instagram is interesting. LinkedIn already rolled that out.
The bigger picture
Even if it’s not evidence of an assistant, and if it is simply a voice interface, it’s certainly a step in the right direction and will help users get more comfortable speaking to technology. That’s good for us all, right?
