Is Voice The Next Big Thing?
Recently, I came across a research from a firm called Ovum, which states that by 2021 there will be more voice assistants on the planet than there are people.
First, I was confused by that statement, because common sense suggests that every person needs just one personal voice assistant, not 10 of them. But after a brief read, I realized they were referring to all smart voice devices with voice assistance that are already in use or will be in use in the near future.
Voice as Science Fiction?
I always thought Voice AI is a science fiction element of some far away future that I won’t be a part of, but it turns out, Voice is already here, and it`s growing fast and strong.
Usually when someone says “voice assistant,” most of us think about Apple`s Siri and Samsung`s Bixby on our phones, but in reality, there is much more to it.
A great example are Echo devices which are nowadays already part of many hotel rooms, where they allow guests to use voice directions to adjust certain parameters such as lights, temperature, air conditioning, music, etc. In addition to that, different researches showed that one-in-six Americans already own voice-activated smart-speaker, such as Alexa, Amazon Echo, Google Home or some other, and are using voice controlling on daily basis, with an estimated one billion voice searches per month.
Voice as Personal Assistant?
The more that I read and think about it, the more I like it, to be honest. Having a personal assistant, that knows everything about me and is helping me on a daily basis, doesn’t sound bad at all.
But Can it Keep Secrets?
Of course, with personalized experiences, there will be a lot of data records, and with that privacy concerns. So, are we willing to give out all our personal information and more in exchange for a personal assistant? Well, according to Accenture Interactive, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data to enable a personalized experience, as long as businesses are transparent about how they will use it.
We give out some data, and in return, we can be a little bit lazier than usual, and let our assistants make our life better. Sounds as a fair trade, right?
Voice as a Mom or even worse Grandma?
Admit it, how many times did your mom yelled at you to bring a jacket when going out “cuz it`s freezing”?
Well now your mom can save her voice, cuz Alexa will do that for her. Sensor by the door goes on, here comes Alexa: “Seems like you are going out, I would consider bringing a jacket it`s almost 10 degrees.”
They say that smart voice assistant devices will be able to detect emotional state of users by the tone of their voice, and with the use of some key aspects and metrics relating to health and well-being, such as heart rate tracked by a smartwatch, give clever insights and directions.
I find that kinda cool. I ask Alexa to play some music, and she responds with: „You seem stressed, I should play your `Relax` playlist. Also, you should consider drinking a glass of water, you sound thirsty. “
Or let me say “You seem hungry, dear.” — Alexa/grandma? Which one? Who knows?
The downside, Alexa can’t cook for you, yet…but she can definitely remind you to eat your lunch and suggest what you should or shouldn’t be eating considering your health and “Post-holiday Detox Diet.”
Voice Knows Everything?
And when it comes to home assistants almost all of them already can distinguish between multiple regular users and personalize answers and actions according to that.
By that mean if my dad asks Alexa or whichever device we`ll be using to turn on the TV, it most certainly won`t put it on some reality program my sister watched the day before, but on History Channel or 24Kitchen, because that’s what my dad usually watches. And she just might turn the microwave on to pop some popcorns, because dad loves them.
Voice as a Friend?
By researching more about this “voice AI” topic, I found out that there are a lot of mentions of voice personal assistants becoming our companions and friends that we will trust and rely on.
Many researches already showed that users trust their voice assistant when it comes to deciding between options and purchasing items.
Also, top 3 common keywords in voice search phrases are “how”, “what” and “best”, what shows that people are asking a machine for an advice on how to do something, what something is and to recommend `the best` something, all the things you would usually ask a family member or a friend.
Apple allegedly hired counsellors and psychologists for the Siri team after data revealed that users often talk to Siri about their personal problems. So, we can say that people are looking for a friend in a voice assistant.
I also came across Replika. A chatbot advertised as “the AI companion who cares”. Which works like this: users engage in conversation with the chatbot, and over time the chatbot learns about user’s personality, preferences and life story, like a “normal, real” friend would.
Let me just add that Replika has been downloaded over 2,5 million times.
Hey, we all need a friend sometimes…
In conclusion,
voice is the next big thing, maybe even bigger than we think. There are numerous areas where voice AI can make wonders, and not only in the few mentioned here in a somehow funny way (to keep the focus off `losing our privacy` part…).
