How Voice Technology Contributes to the Future of AI
It all started with human interactions, which eventually transitioned into computerized interactions starting in the early 70s. Now, in the 2010s, computers have become so adept at personal communications that we sometimes forget we’re even speaking to machines!
Lisa Lacy of The Drum cleverly states, “Soon it will seem almost quaint there was a time we looked at voice assistants as virtual friends who lived in our pockets and answered our questions.” Up until now, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of voice technology, not knowing its true influence in our everyday lives and how it can benefit us in the future. The incorporation of voice recognition in our common devices is currently fulfilling its job in shaping our dependence on these convenient machines.
Alexa and Siri are slowly becoming household names, as though they are lived-in nannies. Many AI skeptics have voiced their disapproval of such a technologically-dependent future, but is it really a bad thing? Truthfully, the future of artificial intelligence (AI) rests firmly upon the voice technology that we are currently developing. There is a need for the human voice everywhere. It is the pinnacle of human interactions. Sign language and other alternative forms of communications are just as important, but the human voice connects individuals together in deeper ways than meets the eye. Even our subtle fluctuations, non-words and stammers play an instrumental role in communicating how we feel and what we need.
With this in mind, is it possible for machines to mimic the same kinds of emotions while interacting with customers on the phone? The answer is, surprisingly, yes. Very closely, in fact. It’s almost standard for IVRs to speak in a natural, anthropomorphized way. If we take a look at Phonexa’s advanced voice recognition, it’s pretty clear that voice technology has become even more accurate than human agents, with its natural human speech and state-of-the-art learning capabilities. Phonexa’s VoicePLUS is even equipped with an Automatic Call Distributor and a robust call tracking software, enabling it to deliver demographic-based routing and multi-language options. These key features differentiate it from other voice recognition software in the past, making it a key player in the Cloud SaaS industry today.
If our voice technology is already making a dent in the industry, how would advanced voice recognition in general affect the future of AI – and most importantly, how will it affect the way we receive the idea of a society dependent upon AI?
New Standards, Higher Limits
At the rate in which voice recognition is evolving, the average workers will most likely have to adopt new skillsets that cannot be automated by machines in order to keep thriving in their careers. Consumers, on the other hand, will get to experience a more fluid customer experience wherever they go. The future of voice technology will take away the need for clunky wallets, screens, keyboards, and manual searches.
This isn’t too far away from our current reality, as the Google Hands Free app has already allowed San Francisco locals to make purchases in certain stores using only their voice. Wallets will soon be a thing of the past as new speech technology become readily available for smartphone users worldwide. Similarly, Siri’s Hey, Siri feature is already taking away the need for drivers to look at their phone screens in order to set a new command. Looking at screens while driving can be potentially fatal, so this voice recognition feature helps drivers stay safe while adding just that much more convenience to our everyday lives.
Voice recognition can also replace keyboards and manual searches completely, as many of you already know. Bloggers with disabling diseases, such as Jon Morrow, depend on his voice recognition software to produce content day in and day out. Everything that we can do with our fingers on the keyboard, he can do with his spoken words. The need for manual searches continue to diminish by the year as Siri and other voice response systems become more personalized and accurate.
As far as we can see, this is only the beginning for voice recognition and artificial intelligence. The beauty of voice technology is in its seamless effort to blend with our natural human interactions. There is a time and place for real agents to resolve our issues, such as when we have a problem too complex for a computer to solve, but consumers are generally optimistic about IVR interactions when the tasks are simple enough. Once AI becomes more sophisticated, however, there’s no telling how integrated our lives will be with voice technology.