CNS Core: Large: Autonomy and Privacy with Open Federated Virtual Assistants

虚拟助手，以及更普遍的语言用户界面，将成为移动和无处不在的计算的标准。这项研究旨在创造最好的开放式虚拟助手，旨在尊重隐私。虚拟助手将能够执行复杂的任务，而不仅仅是简单的命令，连接不同的物联网设备和网络服务。此外，用户可以决定谁、什么、何时以及如何共享他们的数据。通过使技术开源，这项研究有助于创造一个提供各种创新产品的竞争性行业，而不是封闭的平台垄断。该项目将所有互联网服务和“物联网”（IoT）设备统一到一个可互操作的网络中，并使用一个开放的、众包的、通用的公共应用程序接口百科全书Thingpedia。Thingpedia中的资源可以使用ThingTalk（一种高级虚拟助理语言）连接在一起。另一个关键的贡献将是语言用户界面网络（LUInet），它可以理解如何用自然语言操作世界上的数字接口。LUInet使用深度学习将自然语言翻译成ThingTalk。带有细粒度访问控制的隐私是通过开源联合虚拟助手提供的。透明的第三方共享通过使用可扩展的区块链技术保持人类可理解的合同和数据交易来支持。这项研究有助于创建一个分散的计算生态系统，保护用户隐私并促进公开竞争。自然语言编程将计算的效用扩展到普通人，减少了编程瓶颈。在这个项目中开发的所有技术都将作为开源提供，以支持学术界和工业界进一步的研究和开发。Thingpedia和ThingTalk数据集将对自然语言处理做出重要贡献。这个针对大学和高中学生的大规模研究项目，以不同的学生为重点，扩大了参与范围，教授技术、研究和隐私的重要性。与这个项目相关的所有信息，论文、数据、代码和结果，至少在2026年之前都可以在http://oval.cs.stanford.edu上获得。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Virtual assistants, and more generally linguistic user interfaces, will become the norm for mobile and ubiquitous computing. This research aims to create the best open virtual assistant designed to respect privacy. Instead of just simple commands, virtual assistants will be able to perform complex tasks connecting different Internet-of-Things devices and web services. Also, users may decide who, what, when, and how their data are to be shared. By making the technology open-source, this research helps create a competitive industry that offers a great variety of innovative products, instead of closed platform monopolies. This project unifies all the internet services and "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices into an interoperable web, with an open, crowdsourced, universal encyclopedia of public application interfaces called Thingpedia. Resources in Thingpedia can be connected together using ThingTalk, a high-level virtual assistant language. Another key contribution will be the Linguistic User Interface Network (LUInet) that can understand how to operate the world's digital interfaces in natural language. LUInet uses deep learning to translate natural language into ThingTalk. Privacy with fine-grain access control is provided through open-source federated virtual assistants. Transparent third-party sharing is supported by keeping human-understandable contracts and data transactions with a scalable blockchain technology. This research contributes to the creation of a decentralized computing ecosystem that protects user privacy and promotes open competition. Natural-language programming expands the utility of computing to ordinary people, reducing the programming bottleneck. All the technologies developed in this project will be made available as open source, supporting further research and development by academia and industry. Thingpedia and the ThingTalk dataset will be an important contribution to natural language processing. The large-scale research program for college and high-school students, with a focus on diverse students, broadens participation and teaches technology, research, and the importance of privacy. All the information related to this project, papers, data, code, and results, are available at http://oval.cs.stanford.edu until at least 2026.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.