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Realising technology’s cognitive capabilities for brands

Alan Turing predicted that voice would become our primary mode of interaction with computers 70 years ago. We are, in fact, 17 years behind his schedule.

People are now literally voicing their concerns to technology – they are showing their emotion, expecting the technology to listen, watch and understand. People want technology to make their lives easier in more natural, human ways and its cognitive capabilities are now making that a reality; increasing the level of information shared and importantly the trust and personal engagement developed.

Tomorrow, I will be discussing this during my presentation at Advertising Week Europe to discuss how advancements not just in voice, but in image and emotional recognition too, will impact the world of marketing and create a shift in the methods advertisers use to connect with their audience.

At Microsoft, we find that voice searches, such as those conducted on Cortana and powered by Bing, are much more natural – meaning they are longer and far more complex in their semantics. As a result, they are packed with intent signals and reveal much more about the person due to its discursive nature. In stitching together these signals, search technology is able to build a comprehensive picture of who we are and what we want. Beyond this, digital assistants are now able accumulate knowledge to become truly anticipatory tools.

With more than 70 per cent of consumers expecting a personalised interaction with brands today, interactivity with digital assistants, bots and other personal computing will become increasingly significant in the future of brand-led customer engagement.1 Interpreting the signals and responding in the right ways through these new personal forms of engagement represents an opportunity for brands that is here and now.

Dr. Albert Mehrabian famously asserted that only 7 per cent of meaning is communicated through words, the remaining 93 per cent is revealed through a combination of tone of voice, gestures and body language.2 The fundamental distinction between technology and human is empathy, but technology is making headway in the right direction with more emotional intelligence than ever before. Today, the possibilities for brands to engage using other human signals beyond voice are endless.

For example, beyond voice recognition, Microsoft’s Cognitive Services is a platform that has enabled the development of image recognition through APIs, and actively encourages continued development from others to maintain the growth and learning of the system. From face detection, to object identification, to emotion recognition, this disruptive technology brings a whole new wealth of opportunity for brands to better understand and engage with their audiences.

Back to Alan Turin’s prediction, we are now not far off a world driven by voice engagement and interaction. With the rapid rise of Cortana, Alexa, Siri and others, today’s technology is demonstrating that his prediction may well come true - and soon.

If you’d like to hear more on this topic, Ravleen will be in conversation exploring the future of emotionally in-tune technology on The Guardian Stage at Advertising Week Europe on March 23rd.

1 Consumer Survey Marketing Report, AgilOne, 2016
2 Mehrabian, A., & Ferris, S.R. (1967). Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 31, 248-252