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"Alexa, buy the price Goncourt", "Say Siri, I'm hungry, find me a restaurant", "Ok Google, what movie could I go see at the cinema tonight?" ... In a few years, the vocal assistants get are made a place in our lives. First on phones, where Apple was forerunner with Siri, and more recently via connected speakers from Amazon, Google, Apple, Sonos, etc. We can now do a lot of things simply with his voice. What to send all our screens to the case?
Voice, a simple tool accessible to all
At first glance, the voice assistants seem to be very old-fashioned screens, as flat and bright as they are. Who needs to type text on a keyboard and then look for the answer to his question when all this can now be done orally? As a result, one out of every ten users today goes through a connected speaker. "There is a democratization, it's true, but the uses are relatively simple: radio, music, weather, timer ..." says Jérôme Grondin, analyst specializing in new technologies at the consulting firm Niji.
The more complex uses of voice commands take longer to be accepted by the general public, but they arrive: 30% of searches on the web will be done by voice in 2020. According to a study by the Capgemini Research Institute, published in September, a user out of two connected speakers has already made online purchases through this. Tasks so far performed on a screen, smartphone or computer.
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Voice assistants have the potential to change the way we use technology
"Voice control can be thought of as a new paradigm of the relationship between humans and machines." There was a first leap forward with the appearance of the mouse on computers, then a second with the advent of Touch screens The voice assistants have the potential, too, to change the way we use technology, "says Jérôme Grondin.
In fact, where the screen is a barrier for some technophobes, voice control is accessible to all. "You do not need to learn how to use the tool: you already know the word, and the voice command makes the technology accessible to people who have been excluded so far, whether it's the children below. age, the elderly or people hit by illectronism, "said Jérôme Grondin.
The screen remains a support often indispensable
This does not mean that the voice assistants will put the screens away. First, because, as it stands, voice control remains a limited tool. "The first constraint is understanding the context of the request.If you ask your voice assistant to find a restaurant for Valentine's Day, he may offer you anything because he will not seize the romantic aspect of the request ", explains Jérôme Grondin. It will therefore continue to go through a screen to refine his research. An obstacle that may be defeated in the coming years with the progress of artificial intelligence.
" Assistants are often used in a private setting "Another element that works in favor of the screens: the human being memorizes more easily when there is a visual support. "It's easier to analyze 40 responses on Google when you have them in front of you than to keep 40 answers spoken orally one after the other," according to the analyst firm Niji. In the same vein, voice assistants are designed for very short dialogues: beyond three exchanges on the same subject, the user is lost.
Finally, the use of voice assistants remains constrained by the eyes of others: people do not assume to talk to a robot in public. "The consequence is that the voice assistants are still almost exclusively used in a private setting, at home, and often when you are alone.Work, on the street or in a public place, we continue to go through his phone or his computer, typing his search, "recalls Jerome Grondin.
The marriage of voice and screen
In reality, voice control is complementary to screens. On phones, it's easy to search apps or the Internet, but it's not everything. As for the connected speakers, if the first models relied only on the voice command, the most recent integrate in turn ... a screen. Cross between a touch pad and a connected speaker, the Google Nest Hub Max, Facebook Portal and Amazon Echo Show rely on the integration of a screen to enrich the response to the request formulated vocally.
The analyst believes, however, that voice control, if it will not kill screens, can contribute to the renewal of some audio formats. "There is a rise of audio books, podcasts and even audio series, such as Calls on Canal + and voice assistants are a way to disseminate these new formats without image," said Jerome Grondin. Not necessarily less screen, but more audio: this is (perhaps) what we reserve the voice command in the coming years.
Meet Europe 1 at Voice Tech Paris 2019
Europe 1 is a partner of Voice Tech, the first professional event dedicated to vocal technologies, to be held in Paris on November 26th and 27th at the Salons de l'Aveyron (12th district). For the first time in France, Voice Tech Paris will bring together the entire vocal ecosystem - experts, exhibitors, speakers - to accelerate the conversational transition of companies and promote the emergence of a French voice economy. Europe 1 will speak on November 26th during a workshop. Register and meet us!