What will the future of Voice Assistants look like?... *speak now*

Imagine a day in the not too distant future…..

You feel a soft tapping on your wrist from your smart watch, gently waking you from sleep. A familiar voice softly calls out your name

Good morning Ant its 6:30, time to wake up *bedside light gradually increases brightness*

The voice is familiar as this is the voice of Scout my Personal Virtual Artificial Intelligence assistant. Scout guides me through most days and its hard to consider how i lived without her…..

After a pre agreed 5 mins snooze, the voice of Scout returns again….

Good morning Ant, how are you on this…. *rainy, 11 degree, slightly overcast, with a moderate southwesterly wind*…..morning?

The data from your watch suggests you didn’t have the best night's sleep last night *5 hours sleep recorded*, so lets to do the short run this morning and I'll look to move a few things around in your schedule today to help….

Shorts, T-shirt and trainers on, its time for my run.

The Strava App automatically intermittently pulses on my watch, as it acknowledges the connection to my smart trainers, ready for me to start my run.

Ear pods in and Scout is back again

OK, ive selected short run with best time of 15mins, 32 seconds, i will shadow you as you go and keep you posted on progress and pace, chose Podcast or Playlist and enjoy your run

As i cross the threshold back home Scout gives a summary of the run and reminds me I'm not as fit as I used to be, while logging the stats into my health portal.

I’ve start the coffee machine and i’ve taken the liberty to use the stronger blend today *activate coffee machine*

I’ve started the shower for you and suggest you take a 6 min shower, *start shower 40 degrees, 6mins* I've adjusted the heating slightly for a slightly longer breakfast this morning *turn thermostat to 28 degrees*

Scout is the next stage of voice assistance and unlike Siri or Alexa, she is intelligent beyond the basic features of todays Narrow AI service of search and voice to text instructions. Instead she is designed to make decisions based on Machine Learning and most importantly to be able to proactively interoperate with the growing number of smart devices and wider IoT nodes within our homes, offices, cities1 and smart applications in our lives, both personally and professionally.

In the shower…. her voice returns..

Hey Ant, so today we have a mix of video call meetings and project review meetings this morning, you have a training course after lunch and then a webinar with some much needed catch up time this afternoon. We're working smarter not harder today with a 3:00 finish and ive booked you a slot at the gym, in line with the exercise target we set.

You and Zoe have a dinner date at 7pm this evening and we've checked the latest ratings via the crowd and we've found and booked the perfect place for you both with some great reviews from your networks. *Order Uber for 6.15*

Dont forget to rate the restaurant and your experience afterwards in return for a discount...i’ll remind you later.

Scout has been set to work and interoperate with my wife AI assistance on certain tasks such as checking diaries and comparing preferences etc. We get the chance to intervene at various stages or make any changes as we go but as our systems are using pre-defined preferences and machine learning they are likely to be making great choices for us, just by knowing us and adjusting to our feedback.

Enjoy the rest of your shower Ant, I’ve moved your first call to 9:15 and I’ll prepare your schedule for review over coffee. I'll pass over now to the news headlines and some topical updates that i think will be of interest *play saved news articles and interest list highlights*

Say ‘skip or Read later’ as required

A news readers voice now takes me through the news headlines and some articles/stories that fall in line with pre-defined preference and key words, as i finish my shower. Scout will evolve her learning based on what i read most and update her searches to find precise interests based on the articles i’m spending more time reading or discussing.

Showered and ready for the day, with coffee in one hand and my device in the other, a summary of my day ahead appears in a single panel on screen showing everything from my diary, todays news headlines, articles to read and personal updates such as messages from friends and upcoming birthdays and events. Knowing i’m looking at my device Scout returns again..

So let’s take a look at the day Ant. We have 20 mins before your first call and i wanted to catch up on a few points,

Your weekly work plans are in place and as a summary the focus is mainly around a number of key projects you have in flight and the accompanying calls and meeting associated with these.

Checking the outstanding actions in your To-Do list, *which now appears on Screen* i’ve look at what’s required and who we need to help progress things. Some people have already responded and i’ve updated accordingly,see here *display project update summary* Others have requested more information so i’ve suggested and scheduled calls in.

Also on screen you’ll find the points i cant resolve for you with other Assistants in your To-Do list’ if you could review these and give direction i will either respond or suggest calls as well. We can work through in detail when you’re ready

Using AI and linking to the bigger more powerful AI systems of the companies i work for, Scout is able to progress a number of actions instantly, tapping into advanced databases and skill registers and where unable to resolve, she can provide data and suggestions that i would have struggled to find, instantly to help me, then she intervenes, takes action and makes a final decision. This advanced and proactive flow of information, not only makes for an ultra efficient workforce, it also firmly unseats the current look and feel of the normal day. I can work with Scout at any time of day and as actions are monitored, tracked and updated so quickly, i’m able to multitask and work on a far greater number of projects at any time. AI in the workplace will likely break the mould of work as we know it….and finally kill the time draining function that is email.

We’ll progress from being locked to our phones, keyboard and screens. Instead I chose a comfy chair and quiet space to concentrate at home and we talk through the day and reply by voice not email, I cast video calls to any screen I’m near from my mobile to tablet or the TV of the room I’m in at the time. Our offices will also interoperate in time and by simply standing near a screen i will have the option to connect. No more spider phones, no more blowing into the end of a tired looking cable hoping it finds your laptop….. it all just finally works.

As only around 35% of the workforce are expected to return to the office full time, our employees will need to cater for virtual meetings as the norm. Our homes and our offices will evolve to cater for this new way of living and working. New homes will all be built with multifunctional rooms, using partitions and hideaway panels revieiling monitors or projectors to cast a screen instantly to allow a private call without taking over a room for a dedicated use. Desks in offices will be replaced with booths and larger collaboration spaces will replace the line of small cramped meeting rooms. These bigger spaces will use advanced projection or multiple screens on walls to seamlessly integrate both physical and virtual attendees.

AR glass will also play an important role in our days soon, challenging if we will even need a screen at all, or if instead we will simply pull down a transparent visor, to see a number of screens in our field of vision holding windows/documents in our peripheral vision, bringing them into view by simply holding a glance for a few seconds, using our eye tracking as our new mouse in theory.

Scout moves around with me throughout the day, Using either screens, my phone, earpods or AR glasses to interact and work through tasks as they come and go.

The list of her capabilities will grow as both general intelligence progresses and

You have a new message from X, i will play it now....

Here’s and update on an action, how shall i reply… *speak now*

Your friend Lee want to know if you fancy a workout at the gym tomorrow at 7pm and a beer afterwards…

Using location data i see you’re near the store. Can you pick up some supplies?

You’re a bit behind on your exercise goals taking the vitals from your watch we need to focus on your gym time and diet a little over the weeks ahead. I’ll find the time for you on this, leave it with me.

I’ve leave the walk through there for now, but will say that the use cases for AI Voice Assistants are endless and the exponential growth of these technologies mean we are likely to see service offered in the not too distant future at both a corporate and consumer level..

In my opinion, the growth of AI will change the way we live and work beyond anything we can imagine today or tomorrow. It will be the technology that sees us restore a healthy work life balance for billions of people across the world. Our working lives will see us vastly reduce the hours we work overall and our dependence on employment as we know it will change. Efficiencies and outputs of economies will swell, levelling the GDP of countries across the globe as access to technology scales and competition sees every human being as a customer with self funding ROI models offered. AI will be the focus of the stories our children’s children tell of the 4th Industrial revolution….or perhaps change will be so stark, that it calls for a title of its own making as the 5th Industrial Revolution..

And if you’re wondering who’s going to pay for it all... could this be the case for Universal Basic Income for all.

Well there's no crystal ball on this one and it could just be the ramblings of a so-called Futurist who’s watch too many Si-Fi movies, or is it actually likely to become one of the key services in LaaS (Life As A Service)… in the Future of Us… *speak now*