2023 Voice Predictions

What are our voice predictions for 2023?

John Campbell

Managing Director & Co founder

It’s a New Year, you know the score, and it’s time for our voice predictions for 2023!

2022 was a big year of evolution for voice. We’ve seen Google pull back 3rd party voice apps, increased usage of synthetic voices, and the emergence of large language models with ChatGTP breaking into the mainstream.

So what does 2023 hold for the voice industry? Once again our Rabbit & Pork MD, John Campbell, has the predictions for the coming year.

As per the previous years, we’ll be using the following points system which we’ve borrowed from Moz.

Nailed It (+2) – When a prediction is right on the money and the primary criteria are fulfilled.
Partially Accurate (+1) – Predictions that are in the ballpark, but are somewhat different than reality.
Not Completely Wrong (-1) – Those that were near the truth, but are more “incorrect” than “correct”.
Way Off (-2) – Guesses which didn’t come close.

Watch the following video or read below.

Amazon

  1. On device voice recognition – Alexa will start to compute voice recognition of common requests made by users to their devices. This is somewhat a move towards reducing the huge Amazon Web Services bill, though it will be marketed as a speed/security feature.
  2. New device slow down – An easy prediction to make. Due to the large reduction in headcount at Amazon, I don’t think we’ll be seeing new types of devices, for instance, robots, Alexa on scooters, microwaves, and so on.
  3. Advertising with Alexa – for physical products – The use of Alexa for paid advertising will become more prevalent, but predominantly for products that are sold in Amazon stores.

 

Google

  1. No new devices – In the same vein as Amazon, I can’t see Google bringing out any new speaker devices in the next year. I predict we will see new phones with in-built Google assistant but aside from this, I can’t see any new speaker devices being released in 2023.
  2. GTP3 Style Google Assistant – Google will launch/test a similar product to GTP3 using some of their own large language models but under the Google Assistant brand. Most likely via the web or a standalone app, I can’t see them pushing their smart speakers.
  3. More sunsetting – After the sunsetting of 3rd party apps on Google Assistant, we will continue to see more sunsetting or major changes to app actions

Apple

  1. VR headset with Siri – Allowing VR play and voice interaction using Siri for this experience. This prediction was included in last year’s list but with growing rumours, this prediction looks promising in 2023.
  2. New HomePod-style product – Apple will release something along the lines of a docking/charging station/home hub for your iPhone.
  3. Siri Upgrade – Some form of GTP3 style integration/upgrade of Siri will occur. Not as large-scale as previous upgrades but just enough that Apple can tick the ‘LLM box’ in 2023.

General Industry Predictions

  1. New hardware / smart speaker powered by GTP3 style LLM – A business will launch a new physical smart speaker which will be closer to the “Jarvis” assistant that many have asked for. This will be powered by an LLM. Users might be able to set their own name/persona/voice for the assistant.
  2. More software-level assistants – the return of Clippy…but perhaps a little smarter. Imagine opening up Adobe Premier Pro, speaking to it for 30 seconds, and a project is set up for you with some elements of the video created for you. In turn, some of the assistants will ask you follow-up questions if not enough information has been supplied.
  3. 100% Voice Synthetic feature film – We’ve seen the usage of synthetic voices in films last year, however, this was for one actor, or for one role in the film. I predict we are not far off seeing a film (animation / 100% GCI) with all character voice-overs being entirely synthetic.

BONUS ChatGPT Predictions

Of course, we need to use ChatGPT to make some predictions. So, here is the first attempt.

For me, this was a little too generic. We went more specific.

 

Once again, we’ll be back at the start of 2024 to review these predictions for both John and ChatGPT.

 

If you’re interested in reading the review of our 2022 predictions or previous reviews, see here.

John Campbell

Managing Director & Co founder

John founded Rabbit & Pork as the third agency and Voice Experience arm of TIPi Group. John has developed and launched several Google Actions and Skills, presented at several voice events around the UK, spoken on the VUX podcast and authored multiple whitepapers.