Globally, emotional intelligence (EQ) has declined during the past 50 years but Voice AI provides some answers. In other words, the rise of social media, always-on computers, and an experience that disregards emotion have all had a detrimental influence on our EQ and IQ in the contemporary technological age.
What is the reason behind it?
According to a 2018 ScienceAlert article by Peter Dockrill indicates that “an analysis of some 730,000 results by the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research in Norway reveals that the Flynn effect hit its peak for people born during the mid-1970s and has significantly declined ever since.”
Humans might benefit from using artificial intelligence to raise both their IQ and EQ. However, when it comes to technology, essential elements of human communication are frequently left out, which results in an unpleasant user experience, loss of insightful information, hasty or ill-informed decisions, and ultimately a lesser level of emotional awareness.
“We have a lot of neurons in our brain for social interactions. We’re born with some of those skills, and then we learn more. It makes sense to use technology to connect to our social brains, not just our analytical brains. Just like we can understand speech and machines can communicate in speech, we also understand and communicate with humor and other kinds of emotions. And machines that can speak that language — the language of emotions — are going to have better, more effective interactions with us,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor from Stanford University.
The fourth industrial revolution is upon us, and with it, artificial intelligence (AI) is learning to recognize and decipher spoken and nonverbal human emotional cues including tone, facial expressions, and body language. Thanks to developments in emotion recognition, NLP, sentiment analysis, machine learning, and a stronger integration of languages and psychology, algorithms have substantially improved.
Voice AI technology might be the answer
Through inventions like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, voice AI technology has already into the hands of billions of end consumers. By 2026, it is anticipated that the voice technology market would rise to a startling $55B. Why do we still become upset when our words are not received despite having access to all of these current technologies?
We underestimate how easy the solution is. In essence, current technologies are tone-deaf. They are unable to discern the feelings that underlie our words. Our tone may be understood, but not our orders. Find out how to differentiate AI from non-AI to make things more clear for yourself.
Even while we have amazing voice technologies that can decipher and understand the meaning behind language and word choice, we have also built robots that are missing certain important details. Only 7% of human communication involves words. In contrast, tone of voice, which makes up around 40% of human communication, is the most reliable passive indication of someone’s thoughts. Unacceptably high a number.
Tonal analytics represents a brand-new step in the development of emotional comprehension. Tone is swiftly evolving into a fundamental requirement for automated analysis and voice communication in the future. Voice is ubiquitous, and conversational AI is rapidly expanding. Like voice, tone is present everywhere, yet it is generally unexplored. To communicate effectively between people and robots, tone of voice is essential. A more complete emotional comprehension is produced by combining voice AI with other conversational AI techniques, such text and body language software. To provide a fuller picture of human communication, these technologies work in concert to intelligently link all elements of complicated and unstructured data.
Some companies are already utilizing Voice AI
A customer service platform is offered by Uniphore, a conversational AI startup, to enhance business discussions in contact centers and throughout the sales process. The system from Uniphore makes use of speech AI, computer vision, and tonal emotion. The company is currently valued at $2.5 billion, has over $620 million in capital, and is actively growing abroad. Conversational intelligence is crucial for every organization, according to co-founder Umesh Sachdev.
“Understanding conversations and the data and insights derived from them is essential to every business,” said Sachdev. Only when all variables are taken into account—word choice, body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice—can a conversation be comprehended.
In order to improve how investors make decisions, startup Helios Life Enterprises translates the tonal distinctions of leaders’ voices into practical advice. Executives speak about a significant quantity of crucial information on earnings calls and other audio or video engagements. It is quite challenging to conceal the fact that the tone of voice is a route via which emotional information seeps.
Due to its unique emphasis and the fact that it is the only business that produces tonal analyses of CEOs, Helios is quickly gaining attention in the banking sector (more than 4K US equities). In the alternative data arena ($143.31 billion by 2030), Helios has opened up a whole new channel of insights by accounting for the essential tonal components required for comprehension.
Other voice AI businesses use the subtleties in voice to assist in the diagnosis of patients with various disorders. For instance, Sonde Health uses analysis of voice biomarkers to diagnose Parkinson’s disease in patients more quickly than ever before, enabling speedier treatment.
A phone app developed by CompanionMX can identify depressed people by listening to their voice patterns. The information produced helps to provide a complete picture of a patient’s mental health, and the app format makes the technology more usable for end users.
Conclusion
The application cases for tone are infinite, ranging from contact centers to sales to medical to finance, thus the issue is: how will tonal insights influence new sectors and alter those that already exist? How effective will Voice AI technologies be?
Leaders must take into account how the technology will affect their organizations and the broader economy as artificial intelligence acquires a higher EQ through tonal insights. We have also discussed how could AI transform developing countries, you can check it out for further information!
