7 Significant Predictions for the Future of Voice Assistants and Artificial Intelligence

When Siri was released in 2011, no one anticipated that this novelty would become a catalyst for technological advancement. By 2023, according to eMarketer, almost 92.3 percent of smartphone users will be using voice assistants.

Amazon and Google are continuing to drive this trend to gain market share. Voice interfaces rapidly evolve across many industries, from healthcare to banking, as corporations race to meet consumer demand.

What Causes the Voice Shift?

The fundamental reason for this transition is changing user demands. Millennials show an enhanced level of awareness and comfort—a world where speed, efficiency, and convenience are constantly optimized.

The widespread usage of AI in everyday life is also driving the shift to voice apps. Voice assistants are becoming increasingly useful as IoT products like smart thermostats, appliances, and speakers become more prevalent. Smart speakers are the most common way we see speech used, but it doesn’t end there. Most applications will incorporate voice technology in the next five years, according to industry experts. Where will this technology take us in 202 and beyond?

We present a high-level summary of voice’s potential and seven important predictions for the coming years.

7 Voice Predictions for 2021

App Integration

Incorporating voice technology into mobile apps is currently the hottest trend and will continue to be so (NUI).

Voice-activated apps improve functionality and save consumers time. Voice-activated apps assist users in navigating apps even when they are unfamiliar with the item’s actual name or location in the menu. While users may consider speech integration a nice-to-have now, it will soon become a need.

Healthcare Voice-Tech

In 2020, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants helped battle COVID-19. Apple’s Siri now assists users in completing the CDC COVID-19 evaluation questions and recommends healthcare applications. Voice and conversational AI have made health services more accessible to people who couldn’t escape during COVID-19. After experiencing the power of speech and healthcare, patients are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic norms. Expect to see increased healthcare investments in voice-tech integration in the coming years.

Search Habits Will Shift

Voice search has been hotly debated. Voice visibility will be a challenge because voice assistants lack a visual interface. Voice interfaces cannot be seen or touched without the Alexa or Google Assistant app. Consequently, search habits will shift. According to Juniper Research, voice-based ad income could reach $19 billion by 2022, fueled by the rise of voice search apps on mobile devices.

Brands are now changing touchpoints into listening points, and organic search will be the major method brands are visible. As voice search rises in popularity, advertisers and marketers expect Google and Amazon to expand paid message options.

Personalized Experience

As they improve in distinguishing between different voices, voice assistants will become more personalized. Google Home can distinguish between different voices and manage up to six user accounts, allowing users to customize a range of functions. You can go ahead and ask “Can you tell me what I’m up to today?” or “Would you mind telling me about your day?” and the Assistant will provide you with information such as commuting hours, weather, and current events. It also contains nicknames, work addresses, payment information, and accounts affiliated with Google Play, Spotify, and Netflix. Similarly, Alexa users can build unique voice profiles so the technology can determine who is speaking for more personalized experiences.

Cloning

This computer-generated voice is indistinguishable from the actual one due to advances in machine learning and GPU power growth. You simply record your voice, and a voice conversion technology converts it into another. Advertisers, filmmakers, game developers, and other content creators rely on voice cloning.

Smart TVs

Smart screens increased voice-tech features last year. Consumers now prefer smart displays over smart speakers, increasing demand for these gadgets. A year ago, sales of smart displays increased by 21% to 9.5 million devices, while sales of basic smart speakers declined by 3%. In 2021, more innovation in smart screens, with more advanced technologies and customization. / Far-field voice interaction, facial recognition, hand gesture control, and eye gesture detection are examples of these.

Gaming Industry Voice

It takes a lot of time and works to record a voice for each character in the game. An advanced neural network can simulate human voice in the future year. In reality, in the future, neural networks may be able to construct NPC answers. So, seeing games with dynamic dialogues isn’t too far off.

Why Use Mobile Voice?

Phones are already more individualized than websites. Mobile devices also have a small screen, making it harder to search or explore. Voice apps enable users to use natural language to eliminate or reduce manual labor, making processes faster.

Rogers has incorporated voice commands to their remote controls, allowing customers to search for their favorite series or movies based on criteria such as an actor’s name. Voice is the way to improve mobile experiences for consumers. Voice is gradually becoming the preferred medium for users seeking faster and more efficient task completion.

Voice is the new mobile experience for information, purchases, and tasks. The voice and speech recognition industry is predicted to develop at a 17.2% CAGR to $26.8 billion by 2025.

Voice User Interface (VUI) Advances

With just a few examples, it’s easy to see why voice assistants are destined to become the centers of our increasingly connected lives.

Developers can now use voice technologies. For example, Amazon offers Transcribe, an ASR service that allows developers to convert voice to text. Once the application has voice functionality, users can analyze audio recordings and receive a text file of the transcribed speech.

Google has made Assistant more pervasive by exposing the software development kit through Actions, allowing developers to add speech into their own AI-enabled devices. Google also offers the AI-powered Cloud Speech-to-Text service, allowing developers to convert voice to text using deep learning neural network techniques.

Conclusion

This is merely the beginning of voice technology, as user interfaces will continue to improve. With advances in VUI, businesses must educate themselves on how to best use voice to better communicate with customers. It’s crucial to consider the value of adding voice, as not every brand will benefit from it. By 2022, voice-enabled apps will understand what we say and how we say it, and the context we ask.

But there are still a few hurdles to overcome before voice applications become mainstream. Voice assistants are becoming increasingly adept in AI, NLP, and machine learning. To establish a solid voice recognition experience, the artificial intelligence behind it must improve. As customers get more accustomed to and reliant on