Notes from #WebSummit: Amazon wants to talk to you

Werner Vogels on the rise of human-centric interfaces

Details
Date: November 9, 2017
Time: 10:30
Conference stream: Centre Stage

Speakers
Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon, @Werner

Web Summit Summary
Advances in deep learning are bringing a revolution in the way we access our digital systems. Where in the past these interfaces were designed in a computer-centric fashion, we now see a radical shift towards human-centric interfaces. In this presentation we’ll dive into the shift towards human-centric design, the initial results of using voice and conversations as the main interface, and the path towards unlocking digital systems for those who are not computer users.

Main Theme

Werner Vogels talks about moving from computer interfaces to voice interfaces, and how voice is on the brink of transforming all of our lives.

The Key Quote

“The most natural way to communicate is not all the digital interfaces we have today. If you look at all the digital interfaces that we have today, they’ve all been driven by the capabilities of the computer and not of how we want to communicate…Voice is a human interface.”
- Werner Vogels

Key Points

1. Voice represents the next major disruption in computing and is quickly becoming the new standard for interacting with technology.
2. Computers, smartphones and using keyword searches are inaccessible for many around the world, making voice the most natural way of communicating and asking for information. Vogels gave the example of rice farmers in the Phillipines who use an automated phone-in system built by the International Rice Research Institute to get answers on crop questions. The system recognizes fuzzy terms and employs machine learning to suggest answers. Were this research only available via a webpage, it would be inaccessible to these farmers.
3. Currently, about 10% of all searches are voice searches. Digital natives have grown up understanding how to search using keywords but this isn’t a natural behaviour, it’s a learned one. Do we have to continue teaching kids how to futz about with keywords in just the right way to get relevant results? Or should they just be asking normal questions?
4. We have work to do to understand how to build and use voice-controlled interfaces. How do we build when a monitor and keyboard are no longer in our toolset? Voice may be a natural way of communicating but we have yet to fully understand how to use it to build technology.
5. Cloud makes human-centric design imminently possible. Whats in an Alexa-enabled device? It isn’t very intelligent — contains some microphones and the ability to play synthesized speech. Its intelligence lives entirely in cloud services: Alexa Voice Service and Alexa Skills Kit. Keeping this intelligence in the cloud allows it to be utilized by any device.

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