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Credit: HelixAI
"Alexa, what's the solubility of sodium hydroxide?"
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It's okay, Alexa, neither do we. But not to worry, one Atlanta-based startup is working to change that with their own science-savvy virtual assistant: Helix.
There is an art to reading a book to a child. You pace your every word, pause at exactly the right moments, and maybe even read their favorite parts one more time. If you're in the mood, you even give each character their own voice and add your own sound effects for the wind whooshing through the trees and the duck quacking in a pond.
Voice technology in the military is a sensitive subject. Nobody wants to think about how the benevolent tech helping patients track their meds and supporting children with dyslexia may also be aiding deadly attacks in foreign countries.
But if we're to touch on all the fields where voice tech is making a difference, then the military should be no exception. Besides, highlighting the uses of voice in warfare may inspire new ideas on how voice can help the people caught in the midst of it.
Voice tech in transportation is typically a mix of cool cars with voice assistants and voice assistants in cool cars. Between global brands and their flashy voice-first systems, no-one really gives Uber drivers or humble truckers a second thought (or even a first).
Healthcare has become somewhat of a muse for voice tech startups, inspiring countless admirable innovations including smart assistants to monitor aging patients, automated transcribers to streamline doctors reports, Alexa-powered medical devices, and even hearing aids that translate over 27 languages.
Where's my seat? What is the best hot dog vendor? Which beer tastes less like water?
Here's the problem: there are 2.25 million public safety officers in the U.S. and only 100.000 dispatchers. This means police, firefighters, and medical service providers—all of whom are usually in time-sensitive situations—have to wait for a dispatcher to become available so they can get the 101 on the situation ahead.
Have you played the award-winning Alexa skill: Westworld: The Maze?
In this skill Alexa immerses you in the fantasy playground of Sweetwater, where your mission is to find the center of the maze. You can converse with different characters, hear the trains steaming through town, catch the notes of a piano playing nearby, and strategically choose your next move (to avoid an unexpectedly violent death).
Remember listening to Google Duplex make that terrifyingly human-like phone call to book an appointment at a salon?
While most of us were thinking "Well, I'm never making phone calls again," cybersecurity experts thought "We might be able to use this for fraud prevention."
