The Future Of Voice Assistants

Imagine being able to communicate with your smart devices, wearables and smart speakers using your own voice. And you don’t need to speak loudly or shout at the device - just ask it a question and it responds! It doesn't get any more convenient than that!  Voice Assistants are one of the most effective ways of interacting with smart devices. They can be used across a wide range of tasks, including: asking questions, providing and looking up information.

What are Voice Assistants and how do they work?

​​VUI (Voice User Interface) is one of the most innovative and powerful technologies influencing the customer experience. It enables information retrieval, user interaction, customization and deployment of various applications on computers, mobile phones, wearables and smart speakers. Voice assistants are more than just a tool for searching data - they can be used to change behavior by activating features in a product or by initiating an action that makes it easier to complete a task.

Voice search is a natural part of how we interact with our smartphones and other devices. For example, if you want to open a mobile application on your smartphone, all you need to do is push the trigger button and speak your request aloud. Not only does this save you time each day by eliminating the need for typing, it also saves precious screen real estate on your device. Voice assistants have a much broader range of use cases than traditional apps do, but they can also be used as search engines that return structured content when a keyword or question is spoken.

The Future of Voice Assistants and Conversational AI

1. No more wake words for voice assistants

Google and Amazon recently announced that their voice assistants will stop requiring the user certain words which were previously necessary to activate the device.  With this new feature, users would no longer be required to say 'wake up' words like 'Alexa', which can be tricky to pronounce when you're in a conversation. Of course, this will make the device's interaction more natural and convenient! Not to mention that it will make better sense of what is being said given contextual factors.

2. Changes in customers’ search patterns

Voice search has changed the game for eCommerce companies. As adoption rates among online shoppers continue to rise, voice search continues to be at the top of the eCommerce sales funnel. In order to capture information and engage customers, brands must ensure they have the tools necessary to capture information and engage customers. By engaging customers, brands can develop lasting relationships with their audience and convert them into customers.

3. Conversational AI in the gaming industry

The dynamic conversations in a game are a very important part of the interaction with the characters. It adds one more layer of immersion and also lets players learn about the backstory of their heroes. It’s definitely worth looking forward to seeing conversational AI and voice bots utilize interactive dialogues in their own way; whether it be expressing emotions or even negotiating with players, able to have both friendly and hostile (or anything in between!) conversations.

4. Voice assistants in mobile apps

Voice assistants are becoming more popular as people become more dependent on them to perform tasks around the house, and on their smartphones. Users expect all apps that they use, whether it be at home or on their mobile devices, to have voice functionality. One of the biggest advantages of integrating voice assistants into mobile apps is streamlined navigation and enhanced usability. By enabling users to control most functionality through voice commands, end users can focus on the task at hand, rather than thinking about the app.  Voice-based navigation is faster, easier and more intuitive.

5. Revolutionizing the healthcare industry

Voice automation is increasingly becoming the preferred communication method in the healthcare industry for patients, caregivers and medical professionals. AI-powered voice assistants powered by HealthTech can infer patient needs, giving clinicians access to a continuous stream of clinical insights. Combining voice and data insights optimizes care delivery and improves efficiency. Voice provides an additional level of automation powered by blockchain that can deliver quality care faster through improved outcomes along with improvements in data handling, reporting and management.

Conclusion

Voice assistants are emerging as one of the most innovative technologies on the market and with 5G on its way, the future is bright for this innovation in communication. It is not just a question of technology, but also one of training and confidence. Voice assistants are making their way into our lives and could be the biggest innovation to come out of the technology industry in a long time. But before they can become ‘the new normal’, they need to gain the trust of consumers by being carefully crafted and structured.

With this in mind, consumers will have to develop an additional set of skills and learn to own their digital life. Because of this, we at GeekAnts, believe that the next decade will see a consumer mentality shift as they become more comfortable sharing their personal data with companies and services who they can trust and we are using our technological prowess to create software apps in alignment with these trends.