Don't lift a finger: AI-powered voice commands are the future of the smart home

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The smart home appliance market is one of the fastest growing verticals in the smart home space. However, much of this growth depends on the addition of voice command technology. Voice-enabled AI assistants – where the consumer uses their voice to direct, control or interact with technology – are fast becoming the primary method of communicating with devices.

Don't lift a finger: AI-powered voice commands are the future of the smart home

Voice command: Give people what they want

Consumers, who are used to having answers at their fingertips, have easily (and eagerly) got used to using their voice. The addition of artificial intelligence (AI) made the transition seamless. Like the web and mobile, voice is transforming from just another interface to a distinct consumption channel. It is estimated that by 2024, the number of voice assistants will reach a staggering 8.4 billion, surpassing the world's population. Additionally, the 2021 Voice Consumer Index surveyed technology users and found that a third of them use voice technology daily. It is clear that voice technology is increasingly becoming an essential part of our daily lives. Adding voice user interfaces (VUIs) to devices, such as washing machines and refrigerators, will only accelerate the trend within the home even further.

AI around the house

Homes and appliances are becoming more sophisticated and therefore more difficult to operate seamlessly. Many devices have deep feature sets that most users never access, thanks to the difficulty of the interface. With voice control, users don't have to struggle with the microwave's touchpad; they can simply say what they're cooking and even save presets for their favorite meals. Users can tell the washing machine to be careful with delicate items, tell the kitchen faucet to fill a glass of water, and even tell the trash can to open when their hands are full.

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While voice control is present today mostly on smart speakers and mobile devices, voice is poised to go beyond. Advances in hardware and software make voice control practical for virtually any type of product. Industry efforts to increase voice service interoperability, or a device's ability to support multiple voice assistants, can also be supported by design. Discrete or even invisible systems can be integrated with appliances, and new systems have immediate response times without cloud latency.

The next release of voice-enabled products will see increased integration of voice into stand-alone products that work in different areas of the home. Some of these devices will use cloud technologies for their back-end intelligence, while others will keep local interactions at the edge. A new generation of sophisticated use cases awaits.

Voice control for all

While every product is ready to house voice technology, there are still hurdles that VUIs must overcome before they become equally useful to absolutely everyone.

One such barrier is the need to respond accurately and consistently to people of different ages, with different dialects or speech disabilities. With machine learning, edge devices will become even smarter and more useful over time. New systems will be able to better distinguish between different household voices, opening up n...