(Photo credit @claybanks)
I have always had the gift of gab. Maybe that’s why I enjoy chatting with my Google Assistant in the mornings to learn about the weather forecast, and to review my daily schedule. (She has a British accent and recently gave me the nickname of The Notorious Spitshine Boombox. Maybe I need to get out more...) It’s been fun to experiment with developing commands but kinda creepy sometimes when she just starts speaking because she ‘overheard’ a real-life conversation and was trying to help. I also wonder what profile is being built for me based on what I ask her to look up, what events are on my schedule, what media I watch via Google Home/Chromecast, etc. Does the convenience outweigh my privacy? I struggle with that question on a daily basis.
#TECHTOPIC
Voice tech has been enjoying huge growth over the past few years, with even more growth recently as people have been cooped up at home. Voice recognition technology uses machine learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) to turn spoken words into text.
The first consumer-focused voice recognition software was launched back in 1990 called DragonDictate. You spoke one word at a time, pausing between each word. Nuance’s Dragon software is still one of the most accurate transcription software apps on the market for doing volumes of spoken transcription. With the launch of the voice assistants + speakers by the large tech firms, more people are using these voice technologies. The increase in usage also helps train the algorithms to work faster and faster to translate speech to text, then to commands, and then reply within mere seconds.
Early iterations of Google Translate required users to speak a few words into the app, click send, and wait for the translation to be sent back to you. Painful when you need to know how to ask where the bathroom is when traveling! Back in Jan 2020, Google launched real-time translation for Android, allowing users to speak in one language into the phone and have the translated text appear instantly on the phone.
For Amazon, the spectacular failure of the Fire Phone was a blessing in disguise, as it led to the creation of Alexa. Interesting note on the naming of the voice assistants: Amazon (Alexa); Microsoft (Cortana) and Apple (Siri) are all proper names (likely to make people feel more comfortable speaking to a disembodied voice). Whereas Google has Google Assistant (Hey Google!),and they have far and away the most active user base at 500+M monthly users.
As more consumers become accustomed to speaking to and interacting with a voice-controlled AI system, there is great promise for the expanded usage -- but we need to remain vigilant about the trust we place in these devices and how we safeguard privacy. Not to mention, we need to ensure that Alexa doesn’t order extra dollhouses!
