Sensory Debuts AI-Driven Voice Chat on Consumer Devices

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Sensory has brought ChatGPT-like technology to devices without screens or keyboards.

The Santa Clara, California-based firm announced Monday (April 24) in a press release emailed to PYMNTS a new integration that lets ChatGPT and other large language models drive conversational voice responses on devices such as in-ear voice assistants, smartwatches, smartphones and automotive infotainment systems.

“Generative AI has the potential to make consumer devices smarter than ever,” said Sensory CEO Todd Mozer in the release. “Integrating this powerful new technology with our robust voice AI stack is a game-changer for the market and allows our customers to create a new generation of infinitely capable voice assistants tailored to a variety of customized domains.”

Sensory said in the release its technology makes generative AI more accurate, with a technology stack that includes wake word recognition and the ability to avoid unpredictable and incorrect responses. The company refers to these as “‘AI hallucinations,’ which can occur on platforms that rely solely on generative AI.”

It also includes text-to-speech, letting users hear responses in a natural voice, as well as the ability to ask follow-up questions and add more information to initial requests, “making the conversation more natural and human-like,” according to the release.

There is an opportunity to marry speech and commerce, with PYMNTS research showing 86 million consumers in just the U.S. using voice assistants. And data showed 21 million more consumers are using smart home devices compared to last year’s measurements.

This space is not owned solely by Big Tech. SoundHound AI announced this month it had closed a new $125 million loan facility from Atlas Credit Partners as it prepares to “significantly grow” its subscription business with its AI-based customer service offering, which includes tools to support call answering and food ordering for restaurants.

In March, ChatGPT creator OpenAI said it will use Stripe’s financial infrastructure platform to monetize its ChatGPT and DALL-E AI products, with Stripe meanwhile incorporating OpenAI’s generative AI technology into its products and services. OpenAI has been leveraged to launch a global payments system for several product lines, Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe’s head of information and data science, told Karen Webster in March.