Japanese messaging giant Line rolls out cute AI speakers

PanARMENIAN.Net - Earlier reports suggested Japanese messaging giant Line was working on an AI assistant called Clova, and that it would first inhabit a clever-looking smart speaker called the Wave. What was only just discovered, however, is that Clova's next physical avatars would include an unamused duck and a bear that always looks just a little disappointed, Engadget said.

In case you mostly chat on other platforms, these characters are based on a slew of stickers Line users can hurl at each other inside the app. Line hasn't confirmed whether these Clova-powered speakers -- collectively known as the Champ series -- would embody their characters in different ways, Engadget said.

Still, the laundry list of features Clova brings to the table is considerable, especially since Amazon's Alexa doesn't work in Japan yet. So far, we know that these speakers will let you manage calendars and to-do lists, check the weather, control compatible appliances and have "casual conversations" directly through the Line service, Engadget said.

Japanese Line fanatics won't be able to get their hands on the Champ speakers until this winter at the earliest, Engadget said.