Human communication has evolved over time through different technologies, forms and mediums. Using your voice and simply speaking to someone is a foundation of that interaction. History shows us when leveraging computers for more productivity, voice took the back seat, and text became the conduit for which we could communicate with computers.
Movies like Star Trek, the movie Her and TV shows like The Jetsons all seemed like science fiction at the time, but those seemingly prophetic pieces of entertainment predicted we would command computers using our voices. Now, 2017 is the year where it’s in full effect and we can speak to devices, commanding them to make our lives 10x easier, ushering in the next computing revolution.
It’s no secret, billions of dollars have been poured into artificial intelligence (AI). Computers having their own brains will be the onus of some of the next big technologies like autonomous driving cars and robotics, but AI’s driving growth has been voice and natural language processing in which every major player is involved from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg creating Jarvis himself, to Google Now. Apple’s Siri was arguably the first to get into this game several years ago, but no other company has been paving the way for voice more than Amazon.
Amazon smart speaker the “Echo” has been around since 2014, but its popularity was only made known last year with over 6 million units sold. The Echo didn’t set any expectations and has blown everyone away. The product brings Amazon’s “Alexa” which is their AI voice processing platform directly to your home where you can interact with it. Developers can even create an infinite amount of “Skills”, which are the equivalent of apps and right now there are more than 5,000 of them in the “Skills store.” You can do anything from have Alexa sing you happy birthday and play Simon Says to paying bills, checking your schedule and ordering products off of you guested it, Amazon. You can also incorporate Alexa into any device, no typing or text necessary.
Many are already familiar with voice as a new medium, but using speakers was a genius move making the internet of things one step closer to reality. By 2018, 30% of our interactions with technology will be through “conversations” with smart machines.
Complex science & conjecture aside, voice humanizes technologies. We’re moving towards humanized behavior for computers. It’s a behavior that is extremely addictive, the presentation and purpose simple, yet the opportunities diverse.
There’s still some kinks to work out, but as an individual in the entertainment, art and business workforces, learn now what the implications of voice as an operating system will have on your craft moving forward so that you can be ahead of the curve. There are uses everywhere for everyone and every type of economy. Mastering it will keep you on top of the game.
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