NPR Tech Nation Interviews Pat Condo, CEO of NTENT, about how Voice-Driven Search is Changing the World Around Us
Just how powerful is the capability of voice in our technologies? NPR Tech Nation host Dr. Moira Gunn poses that question to Pat Condo, CEO of NTENT, in her latest podcast episode titled, “Episode 19–10 Guy Kawasaki — Lessons from a Life.” During this episode, Condo discusses the evolution of search, offering expert insight into how conversational AI and voice search are changing the way we interact with the world around us. He describes how text-based search reshaped the method and pace at which we currently discover information on the web.
Today, voice search and digital assistants are redefining how we incorporate the digital world into our lives. In 2012, the onslaught of semantic search, advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML), helped lay the groundwork for voice search with the ability to understand the meaning of words and the intent behind them, coupled with the expansion of Knowledge Graphs. Throughout this time, people’s behavior began to shift; they asked questions and demanded answers. Long-tail keywords increased to approximately 70 percent of all searches. People started typing full-phrased questions into their search bars rather than one or two simple keywords. Questions like, “What is the time difference between Los Angeles and Paris?” instead of separate entries for “Time Los Angeles” and “Time Paris.” Natural Language Understanding and semantic search technology provided the ability to interpret what a user meant based on the context of a question, even with words that had double or triple meaning. A search for the word “mustang” was correctly differentiated between a search for the sports car or a type of horse.
The capacity to understand and answer questions, coupled with the increasing penetration of smartphones, acted as a catalyst for the voice and conversational search revolution we find ourselves in today. Predictions by ComScore estimate that more than 50 percent of searches will be voice-based by 2020, Google states that 20% of all current searches are through voice, and Gartner reports within two years, 30% of all web browsing will be done without a screen. Voice interactions are fundamentally changing the way we do business and how we connect with our surroundings.
In his podcast interview, Pat Condo offers insights about how this impacts business-to-consumer interactions and speaks about how NTENT is providing voice and conversational AI enterprise solutions. Also featured in this episode is Guy Kawasaki, the chief evangelist for Canva, and former chief evangelist of Apple, as well as Helen Torley, President & CEO of Halozyme.
About NTENT: NTENT provides Search and Conversational AI Platforms, empowering our partners to add search and conversational intelligence to anything. Maintain your data and direct relationships with your customers when you customize, localize and integrate our search, natural language understanding, and Q&A technologies directly into your lines of business.
