Month: Feb 2020

Artificial Intelligence and it’s impact on Smart speakers demand.

Posted on by Nikhil Kanwal

The current global trends leading in the world are:

  • a paradigm shift towards the electric cars to save the limited resources
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Sustainable environment

Explanation of the trend:

History- The term artificial intelligence was coined in 1956, but AI has become more popular today thanks to increased data volumes, advanced algorithms, and improvements in computing power and storage. Early AI research in the 1950s explored topics like problem-solving and symbolic methods. In the 1960s, the US Department of Défense took an interest in this type of work and began training computers to mimic basic human reasoning. For example, the Défense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) completed street mapping projects in the 1970s. And DARPA produced intelligent personal assistants in 2003, long before Siri, Alexa or Cortana were household names.

  • This early work paved the way for the automation and formal reasoning that we see in computers today, including decision support systems and smart search systems that can be designed to complement and augment human abilities.

Why is artificial intelligence important?

  • AI automates repetitive learning and discovery through data- artificial intelligence can perform complex and high volume tasks and calculations with a minimal amount of errors.
  • AI adds intelligence- adds intelligence to the existing technology, like smart speakers was connected via Bluetooth to mobile phones but now with the integration of artificial intelligence smart speakers can perform tasks like responding to human voices. For example, a person asking about the weather from an inbuilt AI respondent.
  • AI adapts through progressive learning algorithms- artificial intelligence is known for continuously learning and adapting the new things. AI works on an algorithm. So, just as the algorithm can teach itself how to play chess, it can teach itself what product to recommend next online.
  • AI achieves incredible accuracy- which human minds are not capable of. Artificial intelligence keeps evolving themselves, for example, Alexa and google keep suggesting the users by using algorithms and have more accurate information as we keep on using it.

Artificial intelligence gets the most out of data– as we keep asking the AI it keeps on digging more data using algorithms and which means more accurate and deeper data.

Countries leading the trend in Artificial intelligence:

It is actually difficult to define few countries leading the trend of artificial intelligence.

We have further categorized it into two parts:

  • Number of publications &
  • Amount invested by country in research of artificial intelligence.

The results here are even more dramatic, with the United States dominating the AI research with the Publication Index of 414 (just as before), but the next three players are an order of magnitude smaller, with China at 39, France at 37 and the UK at 34. In other words, the United States has a 10x lead on China when it comes to publishing advanced AI research.

The current ravishing trends of Artificial Intelligence are hailing all the industries across different countries. AI has the power to recognize faces, run autonomous cars, deliver better online outcomes and strengthen business in various industries. The rush of attaining technological supremacy has led some countries to invest more and more in artificial intelligence.

In terms of investing in Artificial intelligence:

China: the biggest advantage that led china to invest in AI was there internet userbase of approximately 750 million people which further made china invest more and dig more deeper and accurate data. China has a vision of becoming a $150 billion global leader in AI by 2030.

United States of America: is giving tough competition to China by investing heavily amounts in the field of AI. Some of the most prominent companies in the world for example google has integrated AI with their smart speaker, Amazon has launched AI in-built smart speaker echo. Several other companies like Tesla, Facebook are constantly investing in the AI.

United kingdom: is leading in the European market for researching artificial intelligence. Currently, 121 firms in the UK are AI-empowered and the government has announced the funding of $78 million to support robotics and AI research projects.

Canada: the government of Canada has decided to invest $125 million in AI research projects.Germany: has also started several AI research projects in the cyber valley of the country.

Impact of Artificial intelligence on Smart speakers demand:

There are several factors for the growth of AI embedded speakers.

  1. Able to perform multiple tasks: not just playing music Ai embedded speakers are using algorithms to learn and evolve constantly to perform multiple tasks. For example a person can ask the Voice assistance about the weather, news, score update, latest trending. Not just news and updates smart speakers but also you can connect the smart lights via Bluetooth and can turn on and off the lights by just a command to the voice assistant.
  2. technology is speaking to us in a human voice: For the first time, technology is speaking to us in a human voice, masking layers of complex AI technologies that are being abstracted and simplified through voice commands. With technology talking to us, we are, unconsciously, elevating it to a new level. We are humanizing it. We are starting to attribute traits to our smart speakers, which is similar to how we react to other humans.

AI embedded speakers helps in understanding human intentions: With a smart speaker, the device performs a search based on its understanding of our intention. It then selects a result and makes the decision on our behalf. It searches the web by reviewing the results and uttering an answer. It transforms the experience from a search engine to an “action engine” And that is a major change.

The high availability of advanced technologies in the region coupled with the high presence of key players is anticipated to be the major reason for the growth of the smart speaker market in the region.

Since North America has the highest share in the smart speakers industry, amazon echo and google home mini are the two most selling smart speakers in the region.

According to the data found on Forbes target market of Amazon, Alexa and google home mini demographics suggest that most users 57% are male. That said, the two top-used skills are unisex in their usage: setting timers and playing music, respectively.

While the most common place to find an Alexa device is in the living room, a surprising amount of customers (51%) keep one in the kitchen.

Primary target market: male  age 18-29 years-24%

Male aged 30-44 years- 20%

Secondary target market: female aged 18-50 yearsTertiary target market: kids aged 5-15 years. The past year, Amazon has been making a push for child-focused Alexa devices and skills. From the echo dots kids edition to upcoming Alexa Gadgets designed for kids, Amazon is hoping to expand its userbase to children with safe, child-compatible products and skills.

Benefits of the Artificial intelligence:

When we see in North America since our target market is majorly males aged 18-44 years in North America:

  • Health care: AI helps in providing personalized medicines and x-ray reading reminding the patient to take pills on time and also acts as a coach.
  • Retail: AI is being used in an online retail environment i.e. suggesting the shopper products related to their interests and search history. AI uses algorithms to perform such complex tasks.
  • Manufacturing: big MNC giants like Tesla are integrating AI in their manufacturing units to reduce the losses as AI integrated systems tell the exact and accurate information which can be neglected by human minds.
  • Banking: Artificial Intelligence enhances the speed, also helps in determining the possible fraud that can take place in the future by calculating the credit scoring of the person/organization.