Intel: Voice Recognition Will Phase Out Touch

Intel Senior Vice President Mooly Eden believes voice recognition technology will eventually make touch obsolete.

Eden, who manages the firm's "perceptual computing" operations, told Cnet that voice recognition will do to touch what touch has done to physical keyboards, which is, according to the executive, making a number of components unnecessary.

"Voice is the best means of communication between humans," Eden said. "We finally have enough compute power to do what we want from science fiction."

Intel is currently working with partners on developing such devices, as well as hardware, software, cameras, among other features. While they acknowledge voice is still an emerging technology, Eden believes it could overtake touch in three to five years.

During CES, Eden demoed features such as an eye-tracking "Where's Waldo" game, which sees the camera determining where exactly users' eyes are focused. It also showcased other games that follow hand movements and allows users to pick up and drop virtual objects.

"Everything is going to be immersive," Eden said. "I'd like you to work with the computer the same way you work with me.... I want you to say 'I'm not ashamed that I love my computer.' Imagine how many people who are afraid of computers will be able to use them."

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dimamu15 5 years ago

I don't know about that. I have pretty heavy accent and most voice recognition software I tried to use didn't work so well. People speak differently, but we all 'touch' the same way. So why would voice recognition phase over touch.

Seems like a step forward into lazier future. Wall-e anyone?!
esrever 5 years ago

Why can't we just have it controlled by our brainwaves?
d_kuhn 5 years ago

No it won't... touch is useful for some things, voice will be useful for other things - one isn't a direct replacement for the other. Anyone remember the Bladerunning voice activated image enhancement scene? What I remember is that it took about 5x longer to zoom in than it should have... touch is a GREAT way to zoom - voice however is good for other things "Call home" for instance.

Other Comments

dimamu15 5 years ago

I don't know about that. I have pretty heavy accent and most voice recognition software I tried to use didn't work so well. People speak differently, but we all 'touch' the same way. So why would voice recognition phase over touch.

Seems like a step forward into lazier future. Wall-e anyone?!
rocknrollz 5 years ago

Google "Eureka , SARAH" That is the future...
d_kuhn 5 years ago

No it won't... touch is useful for some things, voice will be useful for other things - one isn't a direct replacement for the other. Anyone remember the Bladerunning voice activated image enhancement scene? What I remember is that it took about 5x longer to zoom in than it should have... touch is a GREAT way to zoom - voice however is good for other things "Call home" for instance.
Darkerson 5 years ago

No, Intel, I do not want to have to shout at my comp/laptop/tablet/etc in order to play a game. Try again.
imrul 5 years ago

But what if you have to be quiet? I don't want to speak someone's number in a public (or private) place.
esrever 5 years ago

Why can't we just have it controlled by our brainwaves?
walkerjian 5 years ago

shows how out of touch the big guys are (pun intended) Voice is but one dimension of interaction. We can do way way better than that. Way better... This statement is so stupid that i think the dude is just casting red herrings
irish_adam 5 years ago

I find that hard to believe, what if ur in a loud area (for example a bus full of people shouting at their phones) also we invented sms after the ability to talk over the phone, i can type an sms way faster on a touch screen than a phone can translate comands or ring someone up. Voice comands just aren't efficient
clintwilks 5 years ago

also read in CPU magazine that ibm estimates within 5 years our smartphone will be able to tell we're sick before our first sneeze and will be able to decipher the meaning of a dog's bark lol...a la voice recog perhaps
iam2thecrowe 5 years ago

using your hands to control a device will never be obsolete. as others above have said, sometimes you want to use the phone quietly, it would be hard to use in a noisy place, etc. Can you imagine in a large office block, all these people yapping at their computer all day? Intel you dumbasses. The click of a mouse or touch of a button is also a lot faster than speaking a phrase, not to mention the time taken in setting the voice recognition thing up so it understands you. I just hope the people that write the software for this aren't the same people who designed windows 8.
Camikazi 5 years ago

clintwilksalso read in CPU magazine that ibm estimates within 5 years our smartphone will be able to tell we're sick before our first sneeze and will be able to decipher the meaning of a dog's bark lol...a la voice recog perhaps

You mean some people don't understand dogs now, interesting.
rawoysters 5 years ago

Really! I don't want to have to talk to my phone to get things done. Touch is private and easier in my opinion.
francesm 5 years ago

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dimar 5 years ago

... and thought recognition will phase out voice, soon after...
bigdog44 5 years ago

He's obviously saying that because it's something they're working on. We have evolved different means of input, for a variety of reasons, and efficiency of correctly transmitting the required data is one of them. A variety of computer inputs will usually be better depending on the task and the person.
vaughn2k 5 years ago

I think its very exhaustive..
"left pan" right pan", "ooopppss"
ahhh I beginning to imagine it...
btw, how abou for people that can't speak?
calmstateofmind 5 years ago

Privacy then becomes a huge issue...
anxiousinfusion 5 years ago

Great. So when I'm trying to quietly use the computer while my family sleeps I can wake them up.
Azn Cracker 5 years ago

Well if the device doesn't work, you can at least scream at it now.
mugiebahar 5 years ago

I can't agree. As striated by others you can't go without physical Input no matter what. You can all be using voice commands @ a Starbucks lol. Also say the program drivers for voice goes bad, you would need a physical medium to input information. It sounds as if intel is scared about how things are going with mobile these days and that they are behind. By trying To discount what we have now. I dunno it that's true but it follows human behaviour to minimize other things to make what you are doing sounds better. I dunno, what do you guys think?

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