TiVo continues to assemble the pieces to living room dominance under new corporate owner Xperi, announcing a new partnership—yes, a “strategic” one—with well-funded fraud detection and voice authentication startup Pindrop.
With Pindrop tech someday deployed wiithin the AI-driven video operating system that TiVo eventually plans to embed into smart TVs, users could be authenticated based on their voice, as opposed to punching in cumbersome usernames and passwords.
Family members could also be differentiated by voice for the purpose of user profiles, and search and recommendation.
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"Contextual awareness is key when engaging users through a Natural User Interface. Beyond just understanding what was said, we want to understand the context of the situation to drive intelligent system behavior in the moment," said Jon Heim, senior director of product and conversation services at TiVo, in a statement. ”The ability to distinguish between different members of a household based on their voice is an example of this contextual awareness, enabling us to provide an unprecedented level of personalization through an experience tailored to that specific person.”
Pindrop touts itself as a leader in security for voice AI, currently delivering voice solutions to 8 of the top 10 banks in the world. Founded in 2011, the startup has attracted venture investment of more than $212 million though series D funding rounds.
“We believe that with our state-of-the-art voice authentication technology combined with TiVo’s expertise in the OTT video space, we’ll be able to unlock new experiences for consumers across the globe… and we’re just getting started,” said Vijay Balasubramaniyan, Pindrop CEO. The companies will announce the first TiVo enabled product with Pindrop's technology in the coming months.
TiVo’s Android TV-powered Stream 4K device, which represents the company’s first dipped toe into the OTT market, offers voice support through Google Assistant. However, leveraging Xperi’s position in the global smart TV OEM market, TiVo aims to evolve its Stream 4K platform into a powerful connected TV platform fueled by TiVo’s search and recommendation software.
Smart TVs powered by Stream 4K could begin to emerge later this year.
