A TELUS Digital report has revealed the growing trend of customers embracing AI-powered voice technology.
Indeed, the findings revealed that 81 percent of Americans admit to using voice tech daily or weekly, with 68% having increased their usage over the past 12 months.
While the number of respondents having used the tech during the customer service process is much lower (36 percent in the last two to five years), recent figures paint a different picture.
In the last month alone, 25 percent of surveyed American consumers said they tried voice technology for the first time.
For TELUS Digital, these statistics emphasize the increasing role of voice tech throughout the customer journey, from initial brand interactions to fostering long-term retention and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
The study also provides insights on why adoption of the technology is “skyrocketing.”
Unsurprisingly, generative AI (GenAI) has played a large role in the proliferation of the tech, with the report explaining how it has helped to deliver more sophisticated interactions with virtual agents and is now capable of providing brands with a “competitive edge.”
This suggestion is supported by the fact that 58% of respondents stated that they would be motivated to try a brand that integrates voice technology into its customer engagement channels.
In addition, nearly 69% of consumers had a positive first experience with voice tech and continue to use it, while only 6% had a negative experience and stopped using it.
In discussing the findings, Tobias Dengel, President of TELUS Digital Solutions and author of ‘The Sound of the Future: The Coming Age of Voice Technology’, made a bold prediction about the future of the tech:
Over the next year, every consumer app and website will have to be rebuilt with an AI-powered voice and multimodal interface to take full advantage of advancements in natural language processing, GenAI, technology.
“We see multimodal experiences that combine voice, visual, and touch inputs as the future of how people will interact with technology, and our survey findings show that consumers increasingly want more natural and intuitive ways to engage with digital platforms.”
Despite Dengel’s proclamation, the study still outlined some of the issues currently impacting the technology.
Pitfalls and Solutions
Like most customer service scenarios, consumers gravitate towards the quickest and easiest solution. And voice technology is no different.
Those surveyed listed speed and efficiency (35 percent) and convenience (31 percent) as the two major selling points of voice tech.
However, issues with misunderstanding commands (65 percent), executing commands incorrectly (33 percent), and providing the wrong information (27 percent), are undermining the key benefits of the tech.
These errors are also contributing to customer frustration, with 41 percent confirming that they have shouted at voice assistants, and 30 percent having sworn or cursed at their solutions.
When asked what changes could be made to allow the technology to deliver on its potential, respondents outlined the following four improvements:
- Enhanced accuracy in responses (53 percent)
- The ability to better understand various accents and dialects (46 percent)
- Faster response times (41 percent)
- Improved security features and better privacy controls (41 percent)
The Dangers of AI Voice Technology
While the AI advancements in voice technology presents customer service and experience opportunities, it also makes the sector susceptible to bad actors.
Indeed, recent analysis conducted by Pindrop – an expert in audio traffic monitoring –revealed some of the ways in which fraudsters are using audio deepfakes to target contact centers.
While many people associate deepfakes with counterfeit celebrity images, the rise of synthetic voice technology is becoming a significant concern for contact center security.
Deepfake voice utilizes AI to clone individuals’ voices, achieving alarming accuracy thanks to recent advancements in GenAI.
The increasing availability of homemade videos on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok has made it easier for scammers to obtain recordings of customers’ voices through simple internet searches.
A study conducted by Pindrop revealed that many calls with “low liveness scores” were made using synthetically generated voices, emphasizing the growing prevalence of deepfake attacks in contact centers.
Pindrop’s research was followed by a survey conducted by Preply on the use of deepfaked voice notes.
As voice notes gain popularity among friends, family, and colleagues, the risk of deepfakes and cybercrimes is rising.
The 2024 survey revealed that two-thirds of American adults have sent a voice note, with 41 percent noting an increase in usage in recent years. This surge in voice note communication aligns with a significant rise in global deepfakes, which have increased by 245 percent year-on-year in 2024.
Roman Zrazhevskiy, CEO of MIRA Safety, attributes this trend to the rapid advancement of AI tools, making deepfake voice notes an appealing option for cybercriminals.
He warns that these bad actors could use the technology to deceive individuals into disclosing sensitive information, such as account passwords and credit card details.
More advanced criminals will go deeper, though, likely trying to impersonate those within your circle for an added layer of trust and urgency. Often, these schemes look to extort money or financial information.
“Though we’ll also likely see spikes in malware attacks, likely driven by victims prompted by their voice notes to download some app they thought a friend recommended via voice message and followed up with a direct link.”
