Paris, France. April 11, 2023. Vivoka is announcing an NLU (Natural Language Understanding) technology that is as powerful as the cloud, but running in an embedded voice assistant. In doing so, Vivoka is challenging the biggest in voice technology such as Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant as the French company stands out for its ability to operate offline and thus advocate data protection and Green IT.
An almost human voice assistant?
The NLU (natural language understanding) allows voice assistants to understand any vocal command as long as the user’s intention is clear. Today, artificial intelligence pushes the limits of what is possible by allowing real interactions between humans and machines.
The voice assistant focuses on the intention and not on the words in particular. The machine, which learns from examples, will refine its understanding to interact more easily, quickly and widely with humans; this is called Machine Learning. Until now, embedded voice assistants have included predefined phrases and voice commands could not go outside of this framework.
“The current boundaries of embedded voice assistants lie in their limited ability to understand complex sentences. The NLU we’re working on will enable tomorrow’s assistants to not only perform as well as those available in the cloud, but also limit energy impact and protect our customers’ data.” said William Simonin, Vivoka’s co-founder and CEO.
The particularity of Vivoka, since the creation of its VDK (Voice Development Kit), is the fact that everything is offline (embedded). Indeed, the voice assistants, implemented in any device, can be used without an internet connection, which allows a total independence on the final product. This independence already takes effect in the development of Vivoka, which does not use any external components for this version of its software.
The disconnection mainly reduces the impact of data and data storage on the environment. Vivoka’s digital sobriety allows its customers to meet their sustainability goals while having a voice assistant as powerful as those connected.
The power of the cloud but embedded?
Vivoka is the first company to achieve this!
“It was time to bring to the industry and to consumer electronic devices, the possibility to control their interfaces by voice, without having to make them dependent on the Internet, for a secure and operational use instantly. Well, it’s done with our voice development software VDK. In 2023, Vivoka brings embedded voice control to life with revolutionary AI functionality.” – confirms Emmanuel Chaligné, Product Director.
Many sectors, such as defense, industry, logistics or even household appliances, cannot depend on an internet-connected solution. As a result, the demand from players in these sectors is growing. Vivoka is not only established in France but worldwide thanks to this not so widespread technology. The development of this functionality based on natural language seemed logical to them:
“Today we export our VDK technology to all five continents and are present in many industrial sectors. We know the demand. Our partners have been waiting for a long time for a high-performance solution that allows their users to talk naturally to their systems, without going through the Internet. The technical barrier that we are going to remove with the first embedded NLU will make this possible. This was the logical next step in our development. It will allow Vivoka to show that the cloud is not an obligation, and that a company should not have to choose between performance and data protection.” says William Simonin.
Here are two examples of how an embedded NLU can be used:
- Professional setting:
- Voice implemented in dental office chairs will allow practitioners to naturally and easily control patient height and tilt.
- The NLU will enable next generation robots to be equipped with speech. Voice is a natural interaction and robots will be able to replicate human actions in many fields such as education, industry or health.
- Private setting:
- In the future, household appliances will be controlled by voice without the need for the house to be connected and without an internet connection for these appliances. Users will not need to learn ready-made phrases, they will be able to speak naturally, as they would with other humans.
These are only 3 examples among many sectors concerned such as: IoT (internet of things), connected home, transport, logistics, education, connected glasses/headsets, robotics, defense and health.
About VIVOKA
Vivoka is a global leader in voice AI technologies founded in 2015. Thanks to its VDK (Voice Development Kit), Vivoka offers an all-in-one solution that enables any company to create its own high-performance, secure embedded/offline voice assistant in record time. Vivoka has won several innovation awards and has established leading partnerships with major players in the voice market. Vivoka has a portfolio of more than 100 customers from all major industries and is pursuing its goal of bringing people closer to technology through voice.
Press contact:
Floriane Bret
Communication officer
floriane.bret@vivoka.com
