The document discusses the current state and future potential of voice user interfaces (VUIs). It notes that VUIs today have limited vocabularies and skills, cannot learn, and interactions can feel unpredictable. However, VUIs show promise for hands-free contexts and simplifying complex tasks. The document envisions VUIs becoming more intelligent, ubiquitous across platforms and devices, and serving as a "connective tissue" to link different software and services.

1. “OPEN THE POD BAY
DOORS, DESIGNER.”
@bensauer
UX LONDON 05/16

2. VUI = Voice User Interface
@bensauer

3. When might a VUI make
a GUI redundant?
@bensauer

4. @bensauer
DAN SAFFER
“future-proof yourself by ensuring that
the kind of work you do cannot be
easily replicated by an algorithm”

5. WHAT IS VUI
LIKE TODAY?

7. Curious Rituals
produced by The Near Future Laboratory

9. Curious Rituals
produced by The Near Future Laboratory

11. VUI has no affordance;
no way to discover what it can do.
@bensauer

12. • Limited shared vocabulary
• Poor skills / co-ordination
• No capacity to learn
• Never sure job will get done
Using VUI is a bit like dealing with Manuel…

13. BILL BUXTON
(On modes of input) Everything is best for
something and worst for something else.
The trick is knowing what is what, for what,
when, for whom, where, and most
importantly, why.
@bensauer

14. @bensauer
PLATO IV: TOUCH IN 1972!
@bensauer

15. PROMISING VUI
PRODUCTS

16. “Alexa, add glow in the dark toilet paper
to the shopping list.”
• handsfree context
• noise filtering + recognition
• focussed feature set

17. ELLIE, 7
"Speaking to Alexa's a bit like a Jedi Mind Trick,
isn't it Daddy?
Tell her what to do, she repeats it, then does it."
@bensauer

21. @bensauer
SIRI + TOUCH REMOTE: MULTIMODAL
@bensauer

22. WHERE IS
VUI GOING?

23. The promise of VUI is to
simplify complex interactions
into directly expressed goals.
@bensauer

24. The price of a multifunctional touchscreen
is the volume of required input.
VUI is an efficient shortcut.
@bensauer

25. @bensauer
BEYOND USE CASES
“If the doorbell rings while I’m
in the garden, call me.”
@bensauer

26. @bensauer
VUI IS GETTING SERIOUS INVESTMENT
@bensauer

27. @bensauer
VISION: UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING
@bensauer

30. WHAT WOULD MAKE VUI
TRULY REVOLUTIONARY?

31. @bensauer
1. SHIFT THE DESIGN MINDSET
@bensauer

32. @bensauer
2. SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
@bensauer

33. @bensauer
3. INTELLIGENCE BEYOND USE-CASES
@bensauer

34. @bensauer
4. PLATFORM INDEPENDENCE
?
@bensauer

35. @bensauer
5. CONNECTIVE TISSUE
@bensauer

36. CONNECTIVE TISSUE
IS COMING

37. @bensauer

39. UNIX: thousands of tiny bits
of software in your pocket.
@bensauer

40. STEVE JOBS
“Dropbox is a feature,
not a product.”
@bensauer

41. DESIGNING VUI

42. Bouncer
AssistantGopher
Secretary
THE ROLES OF A VUI
Stephen Gay & Susan Hura
@bensauer

44. @bensauer
MULTIMODAL ROLE PLAY
@bensauer

45. VUI IS NO GOOD AT…

46. @bensauer
LARGE AMOUNTS OF INPUT
@bensauer

47. @bensauer
PRESENTING CHOICE
@bensauer

48. @bensauer
NATURAL BREAKS IN LANGUAGE
@bensauer

49. @bensauer
FUZZY TASKS
@bensauer

50. @bensauer
SECURITY/PRIVACY
@bensauer

51. @bensauer
NOISY ENVIRONMENTS
@bensauer

52. VUI OPPORTUNITIES

53. @bensauer
SEARCH RESULTS (PLATFORM)
@bensauer

54. @bensauer
SEARCH RESULTS (IN APP)
@bensauer

55. @bensauer
SIMPLE GOPHER TASKS
@bensauer

56. @bensauer
CONTEXT
@bensauer

57. @bensauer
IN SUMMARY
VUI is going to render many
screen-based interactions redundant…
but it can’t replace everything;
so start designing multimodal,
and beyond narrow use-cases.
@bensauer

58. Technology is not things, it is practise.
therefore…
Outcomes, not outputs.
URSULA FRANKLIN’S ‘THE REAL WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY’
@bensauer

59. MARC WEISER
“The most profound technologies are
those that disappear.
They weave themselves into the
fabric of everyday life until they are
indistinguishable from it.”
@bensauer

60. I’m @bensauer.
(as in ‘Jack Bauer’.)
“AUDIENCE. thanks for listening.”