The next touchscreen.
Why voice is overhyped for the wrong reasons.
A common opinion I hear a lot is that “voice” is overhyped. Voice is the fastest growing consumer technology in the past 30 years — and it’s pretty cool, but it’s overrated and on its own … not a tech revolution.
We’ve had Siri for nearly a decade now, and even though Alexa and Google Assistant have pushed the envelope forward — we still haven’t seen the revolutionary technology we’ve been promised.
Let’s talk about this.
Think of your Alexa like a touch screen
Voice is just another way to transfer data. It’s a big change from how we do things now, but it’s not extraordinarily revolutionary. In fact, Voice is very similar to touch screens.
Touch screens replaced the keyboard. They were another method of data entry that was more human, similar to voice now. Not only was touch more human, but it allowed for faster data entry. What do I mean by that? Well, imagine you wanted to control your phone screen and zoom in to the top left corner of a photo. On a keyboard, you would have to hit left, and then up, several times in repeat. The magic of touch screens allowed us to do this same motion in a much faster, more human way— swiping diagonally up.
Now — let’s take this example to voice. If you want to open UBER and call a car, you’re going to have to tap and swipe your phone at least 4–6 times (I counted 5). With voice, you only have to speak it “Alexa, call me an UBER to go to 175 Bloor”. It’s faster, and more human. In the same way the graphic interface replaced the command line, or touch replacing the keyboard, voice will replace touch screens because it’s a faster, more human way to enter data.
The advancement of technology has always been about making it more human, and voice is just the next iteration — but it isn’t a revolutionary tech.
Mobile was a revolution, enabled by touch
Mobile revolutionized the way we interact with technology. It allowed us to engage in a more human way by cutting the cords and giving us the power of mobile computation at scale.
Why is every smartphone touch? Because mobile devices are about making technology more human, and there are billions of us who all want different experiences from our devices. Touch screens allow for your iPhone to have a completely different set of functions from mine because the screen can be switched to support any language, and any application, for every experience. Keyboards are rigid and cannot be changed, limiting the diversity of human experiences that can be had with a non-touch device. Mobile was a revolution because it allowed for billions of people to have a more human, more personalized experience with technology.
Intentional computing is a revolution, enabled by voice
Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are all called ‘Voice Assistants’ — but this title is misleading as voice isn’t what makes them special, voice is just a more human method of data exchange. What makes voice assistants special is they change the way technology interacts with us. Touch screens gave us a new way to interact with technology, while voice assistants give technology a new way to interact with us. I’d like to think voice assistants will begin the transition of technology from reactive to proactive, where our AI Assistants seek to enhance people’s lives through predicting when we need them to do something.
As an example, 10 years ago you could input data on a touch screen to get the weather. 5 years ago, you could ask Siri to get the weather with your voice. The way we interacted with the technology was different, but the way it interacted with us was the same. Today, we’re approaching the point where Siri, without prompting, reaches out to you to let you know it’s rainy today, and that you should bring an umbrella. In other words — technology has changed the way it interacts with us, and it’s a fundamental shift in the evolution of human-computer interaction. This of course was done through advancements in AI. In our example, the AI behind Siri predicted our intentions of going outside, and offered services in real-time to meet our needs.
But, AI is an incredibly broad field that isn’t hemmed in to a single revolutionary technology (at least at the time of writing). The field of AI our team at Voiceflow is excited about is the one often mistaken for as Voice, but we simply call it ‘Intentional Computing’, or ‘Intentional’ for short. Intentional is the prediction of your needs and intentions as a human, and the assistance of AI to help fulfill these needs in real-time. Intentional could have happened without voice, the same as mobile could have happened without touch, but people always opt for more human interfaces with more humanized technologies.
Comparing apples to apples
I often see ‘Voice technology’ and ‘AI’ compared against each other, or amongst each other on lists regarding technology and trends— which I find hilarious. To me, this is like tech reporters comparing whether the touchscreen or the smartphone will take off — they’re part of the same thing.
I think the entire voice industry has been hemmed in by the misleading label of the interface (voice), not the core technology (AI) simply because it is the most noticeable trait. It’s easier to explain ‘voice’ to people than it is ‘intentional computing, a sub-segment of AI’. So instead, voice has been promised to change the world without explanation of how, or why. It’s no wonder people are confused about the hype when the experts and industry has the full story, and general public is left with Siri being used only to set alarms.
Touch screens are not hype, they are enabling. Voice should not be hype, it enables frictionless computing based off your intentions through AI.
Intentional computing
Artificial intelligence as pointed out by the great Ajay Agrawal in his book Prediction Machines is simply the dramatic reduction in cost of high accuracy prediction — nothing else. AI is not magic, nor is it human, it’s simply good at predicting things. Where this gets interesting is when applied to predicting people’s intentions — ie what they want. That is exactly what intentional computing is, and that is what all the hype about voice should be about. Asking Siri about the weather with my voice is cool — but Siri telling me preemptively that I should wear a rain coat today is much cooler.
To imagine a world of intentional computing is to imagine a world where you’re seamlessly connected to a device you can converse with and connect to millions of services instantaneously, all through conversation. Want to buy a pair of shoes? Ask Alexa and have a conversation with Nike about the pair that’s right for you — with Alexa broadcasting images of the shoe to your smart TV or laptop while you have a conversation with Nike’s skill. Imagine this, but for every service you use — just like a website, every business will be able to have a conversation with you through your AI assistant.
Final thoughts
The whole industry needs to make it clear that voice is not just about your voice — it’s about AI assistants and how it changes the way technology interacts with us. Voice by itself is an overhyped interface. Combine voice with intentional computing and we’re set for a truly transformational technology shift.
In part two I’ll be discussing what intentional computing means for the applications built on top of this new technology, and what it means for businesses.
Braden Ream is the CEO & Co-founder of Voiceflow. Voiceflow makes it easy to build Alexa skills without coding. You can connect with Braden via email here.
