Talk to Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Think

by James Vlahos

Overview

**To chat with the author, ask your Alexa device to "open the voice computing book."**

The next great technological disruption is coming

The titans of Silicon Valley are racing to build the last, best computer that the world will ever need. They know that whoever successfully creates it will revolutionize our relationship with technology—and make billions of dollars in the process. They call it conversational AI.
 
Computers that can speak and think like humans may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but they are rapidly moving toward reality. In Talk to Me, veteran tech journalist James Vlahos meets the researchers at Amazon, Google, and Apple who are leading the way. He explores how voice tech will transform every sector of society: handing untold new powers to businesses, overturning traditional notions of privacy, upending how we access information, and fundamentally altering the way we understand human consciousness. And he even tries to understand the significance of the voice-computing revolution first-hand — by building a chatbot version of his terminally ill father.
 
Vlahos’s research leads him to one fundamental question: What happens when our computers become as articulate, compassionate, and creative as we are?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328715555
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	341
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

JAMES VLAHOS covers the frontiers of technological change for publications like Wired, the New York Times Magazine, Popular Science, and Scientific American; he also writes for The Atlantic and GQ. In 2017 he engineered a chatbot that helps preserve the personality and tell the life story of his late father, a project that resulted in a Wired cover story and attracted attention from around the world. He lives in El Cerrito, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Visionaries ix

Part 1 Competition

1 Game Changers 3

2 Assistants 16

3 Titans 39

Part 2 Innovation

4 Voices 63

5 Rule Breakers 85

6 Personalities 117

7 Conversationalists 140

Part 3 Revolution

8 Friends 169

9 Oracles 198

10 Overseers 222

11 Immortals 251

Afterword: The Last Computer 278

Notes 287

Index 308

Editorial Reviews

…well researched and reported, written by someone with a deep understanding of the tech itself.

The New York Times Book Review - Rachel Riederer

02/18/2019

Journalist Vlahos explores the increasingly ubiquitous presence of voice computing in his thought-provoking debut. He convincingly argues that the “latest technological disruption is happening, and it promises to be one of the most sizable and momentous that the world has ever seen.” Vlahos orients the reader with a discussion of the recent developments in voice computing, culminating in Apple’s creation of the Siri tool now integrated into every iPhone, before moving onto Amazon, Google, and Microsoft’s competitive efforts. Vlahos also briefly covers earlier voiced technology, such as Thomas Edison’s talking dolls of the 1870s and Eliza, a psychotherapist chatbot created in the 1960s. Evincing a talent for making the technical both easily understandable and intriguing, he explains how developers today are trying to further improve the user experience through machine learning, the process of “feeding vast amounts of data into computers so they can teach themselves how the world works.” Finally, Vlahos examines recent applications, including Mattel’s work encoding conversational abilities into its Hello Barbie doll, and potential privacy drawbacks. Readers will finish this timely book with a newfound appreciation for, and perhaps some apprehension toward, their favorite voice bot and the technological marvel it represents. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Journalist Vlahos explores the increasingly ubiquitous presence of voice computing in his thought-provoking debut. Readers will finish this timely book with a newfound appreciation for, and perhaps some apprehension toward, their favorite voice bot and the technological marvel it represents."
—Publishers Weekly

“Voice computing will profoundly reshape the way humans relate to machines, and Talk to Me is a brilliant and essential guide to what's coming. James Vlahos understands how the technology works and all the complex things it will bring into the world—and he's a superb writer too. You'll find insights and meaning on every page, and you'll keep turning them. This book is dynamite.”
—Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief, WIRED

"Conversational AI is a genuine paradigm shift in our experience with technology. Vlahos brings the whole story to life, from big picture historical context to the impact on our intimate personal lives. A thoughtful and enjoyable read."
—Tom Gruber, co-creator of Siri

“James Vlahos has written an excellent book on how voice computing has become more and more of a growing presence in our everyday world. In Talk to Me, he provides the promise and peril of this development.”
—Ray Kurzweil, Inventor, Author, and Futurist

“In Talk to Me, Vlahos presents a deep analysis of how voice computing and AI are entering nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives. From the technology to the artistry involved, if you want to understand how we got here and where we’re going next, or if you just want to learn more about the voice revolution happening to all of us, this is a must read.”
—Oren Jacob, Co-Founder and CEO, PullString

“The baton of disruption has been passed from the smart phone to voice, and Vlahos helps make sense of this tectonic shift.”
—Scott Galloway, author of the bestseller The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

"Voice computing is revolutionizing the way we interact with our devices. Talk to Me offers a road map showing how we got to this point and the opportunities and risks that lie ahead as machines begin to converse with us in ways that seem ever more human."
—Martin Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Robots and Architects of Intelligence

From the Publisher