Voice assistants used to be simple, reliable helpers. Well, maybe not truly reliable. They weren’t perfect, but for years, you could count on them to set a reminder, add a calendar event, or play your favourite playlist. They quietly made life easier, even if they never lived up to the sci-fi hype. When voice assistants just worked Remember when you could say, “Remind me to empty the washing machine at 5pm,” and it just worked?