Siri, Google Now, Cortana, Alexa: 56 percent have tried digital assistants

Digital language assistants are familiar to many Germans. Many fear data misuse by the helpers.

Digital language assistants are still young, but are already gaining a stronger foothold in everyday life. More than half of the people in Germany (56 percent) have already used such an assistant before, as a representative study by the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft has shown. And another 19 percent can at least imagine a use.

Google's assistant and Google Now (29 percent) were the most frequently mentioned, followed by Apple's Siri (22 percent) and Cortana from Microsoft (14 percent). Amazon Alexa therefore occupies the fourth place with 12 percent. Whether the assistants are used via the smartphone, the computer or networked loudspeakers is not differentiated in the study by the BVDW. The loudspeakers Amazon pioneer should have the nose ahead. Google launched its Home loudspeaker much later, Apple plans to sell its HomePod in December.

"Alarming" is that one in three feared data misuse or monitoring of the digital helper, as the study also revealed, said BVDW Vice President Achim Himmelreich. "Here, too, there is a need for action and education from the perspective of the industry." Because the conversation with artificial intelligence will "in the not too distant future be a natural part of everyday life," emphasized Himmelreich.