Virtual assistants have become an essential part of our daily life for several tasks such as – internet research, social media management, and data entry. This article discusses Virtual Assistants with applications, history, and importance.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant (VA) or voice assistant is a software agent that understands human conversations and replies through synthesized voices. The virtual assistant system builds with Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Voice Recognition Technology.
We hear an old story, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” where the mouth of the treasure cave is secured by magic. It opens with the words “Open Sesame” and seals itself with “Close Sesame.” The magic could be Voice Recognition technology.
“As someone who regularly hires for online jobs for clients, let me share a little secret with you: the competition is never as fierce as you think.” – Deya Aliaga, COO of Virtual Assistant Internship.
How Does Virtual Assistant begin?
In the late 18th century, Sir Charles Wheatstone built an improved version of Kempelen’s talking machine from his description [1].
Early Virtual Assistant Age
The first voice-activated toy Radio Rex was released in 1911; a toy dog that would respond when called by its name [2]. In the 1930s, Bell Labs researcher Homer Dudley developed the first device with a true speech synthesizer, the VODER (Voice Operating Demonstrator) [3].
Middle Virtual Assistant Age
In 1952, three researchers in Bell Labs, Stephen Balashek, R. Biddulph, and K. H. Davis, developed a system known as “Audrey” for single-speaker digit recognition [4]. The IBM Shoebox (a voice-activated calculator) was invented in 1961 and presented at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. In the 1960s, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum developed the first natural language processing computer program, the chatbot ELIZA [5].
In 1976, Carnegie Mellon developed the speech system “Harpy” that could understand over 1,000 English words and sentences [6]. The IBM Personal Computer could recognize 16 spoken words and the digits 0 to 9; the PC was released on August 12, 1981 [7]. In 1986, an upgrade of the IBM Shoebox, Tangora, was a voice-recognizing typewriter with a vocabulary of 20,000 words [8].
Modern Virtual Assistant Age
Digital speech recognition technology became a feature of private computers for customers in the 1990s, alongside Microsoft, IBM, Philips, Learn Out, and Hussey Fight. In 1992, AT&T deployed the Voice Recognition decision process service to route phone calls without somebody’s operator. The first smartphone IBM Simon made a foundation of smart virtual assistants in 1994 [9]. In 1997, the Naturally Speaking software of Dragon could recognize and transcribe natural human speech without pauses [10].
Tech giant Apple Inc. introduced the first modern digital virtual assistant as a feature of the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011 [11].
Why are Virtual Assistants important?
Businesses can use voice assistants individually to provide different services with several benefits, such as – quickly scaling business operations, offering 24/7 customer service, and reducing costs. It also increases efficiency by outsourcing non-core tasks and frees time for strategic thinking.
In Healthcare, voice assistants can use smartly for many purposes, such as – helping patients to manage diabetes, assuring medicine adherence for patients, insurance purchase and claim management, voice-activated instructions for first-aid, health tips for a better lifestyle, live info about healthcare provider, diagnostic suggestions using AI.
Educators can use Voice assistants for individual purposes in education, such as – making the management of educational institutions more efficient and time-saving with data analysis. It can help students get personalized feedback regarding their academic performance, enabling parents to stay more connected with the school and keep track of kids’ performances.
“No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another.” -Joseph Addison
Conclusions
In this article, we’ve briefly introduced Virtual Assistant technology, its history from its early developments, and the importance of Virtual Assistants, which will give you an idea about Virtual Assistants with applications, history, and importance.
