Voice technology is not a new phenomenon. Humans have been using voice to communicate, interact, and transact for thousands of years. However, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and the proliferation of connected devices have enabled voice technology to become more intelligent, reliable, and ubiquitous than ever before. In this article, we will explore how voice technology has reshaped the conversational ecosystem in the first year of AI, and what are the implications and opportunities for consumers, businesses, and society.
The voice economy is the term used to describe the emerging landscape of voice-enabled applications, services, and platforms that leverage AI to provide natural and seamless interactions between humans and machines. According to a study by PYMNTS, consumers live their lives in a digital-first, connected world, and they prefer voice technology over typing or touching because it is faster, easier, and more convenient. The study also found that consumers performed an average of six tasks via voice in the last 12 months, such as getting information, turning on appliances, ordering food, and booking tickets.
The voice economy is driven by several factors, such as:
- The increasing availability and affordability of voice-enabled devices, such as smartphones, speakers, cars, and wearables. By 2022, U.S. households had, on average, 22 connected devices.
- The improvement of voice recognition and natural language processing technologies, which enable voice assistants to understand and respond to complex and contextual queries and commands.
- The development of generative AI, which allows voice assistants to create original and personalized content, such as stories, jokes, songs, and artworks.
- The emergence of voice commerce, which enables consumers to shop and pay for goods and services using voice commands and biometric authentication.
- The expansion of voice ecosystems, which enable interoperability and integration of voice assistants across different platforms, devices, and domains.
The Benefits of Voice Technology
Voice technology offers several benefits for consumers, businesses, and society, such as:
- Enhancing convenience and productivity. Voice technology allows consumers to multitask and perform various tasks hands-free and eyes-free, saving time and effort. For example, consumers can use voice to check the weather, play music, set reminders, control smart home devices, and more, without interrupting their current activity. Voice technology also enables businesses to automate and optimize their workflows, such as customer service, marketing, sales, and operations, by using voice bots, voice analytics, and voice search.
- Improving accessibility and inclusion. Voice technology can empower people who face barriers to access digital services, such as those with visual, physical, or cognitive impairments, low literacy, or language barriers. Voice technology can provide them with alternative and adaptive ways to interact with technology, such as voice input, output, and feedback. Voice technology can also enable them to access information, education, entertainment, and social opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible or difficult to use.
- Fostering creativity and innovation. Voice technology can inspire and enable people to express their creativity and innovation, by using voice as a medium to create and consume novel and engaging content. For example, consumers can use voice to generate poems, stories, songs, and artworks, or to play interactive games and quizzes. Businesses can use voice to create and deliver unique and personalized experiences for their customers, such as voice branding, voice storytelling, and voice personalization.
The Challenges of Voice Technology
Voice technology also poses some challenges and risks that need to be addressed, such as:
- Ensuring privacy and security. Voice technology involves the collection, processing, and storage of sensitive and personal data, such as voice recordings, biometric identifiers, preferences, and behaviors. This raises concerns about the privacy and security of voice data, and the potential for misuse, abuse, or breach by malicious actors or unauthorized parties. Therefore, voice technology requires robust and transparent mechanisms to protect voice data, such as encryption, anonymization, consent, and control.
- Maintaining quality and reliability. Voice technology relies on the accuracy and consistency of voice recognition and natural language processing technologies, which can vary depending on factors such as background noise, accent, dialect, slang, or context. Therefore, voice technology needs to ensure the quality and reliability of voice interactions, by providing clear and relevant feedback, error handling, and fallback options.
- Promoting diversity and ethics. Voice technology reflects the values and biases of its creators, users, and data sources, which can result in discrimination, exclusion, or harm for certain groups or individuals. Therefore, voice technology needs to promote diversity and ethics, by ensuring the representation, participation, and respect of diverse voices, languages, cultures, and perspectives.
The Future of Voice Technology
Voice technology is evolving rapidly and continuously, as AI becomes more advanced, voice-enabled devices become more widespread, and voice applications become more diverse and sophisticated. The future of voice technology is likely to see:
- The emergence of conversational AI, which will enable voice assistants to engage in natural and human-like conversations with users, by using emotion, personality, humor, and empathy.
- The development of multimodal AI, which will enable voice assistants to combine voice with other modalities, such as text, image, video, and gesture, to provide richer and more immersive interactions.
- The creation of voice communities, which will enable voice users to connect and collaborate with each other, by using voice as a social and collaborative tool.
Voice technology is transforming the way we live and work, by providing us with new and better ways to communicate, interact, and transact. Voice technology is reshaping the conversational ecosystem, by creating new opportunities and challenges for consumers, businesses, and society. Voice technology is the future of AI, and the future of AI is voice.
