This article was 1st published on our sister Site, The Internet Of All Things.
Since the rise of computers, human-machine interfaces typically had some form of Graphical User Interface (GUI) which enabled direct (if limited) interaction with devices and their programs, for instance via software installs, mobile apps, and Web-based applications such as Software as a Service (SaaS). No matter how “beautiful” the respective interface, this GUI is now more and more replaced by a Conversational User Interface (CUI).
Conversational User Interfaces – Text, Voice, and More!
These CUIs come in many shapes:
- Chatbots on popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, and iMessage, and, more recently,
- Voice-activated devices and personal assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and the Google Assistant.
Other still evolving interface styles are less text- and voice-driven, and therefore limit the messaging element to certain basic functions such as taking photos with the blink of an eye (smart glasses or smart cameras such as Blincam can do that today) but will eventually allow for richer interaction gestures (see project Soli). When coupled with an input-output feedback loop, so-called bionic lenses also hold a promising future.
The most futuristic (and also the most scary) conversational interfaces, however, are possible once the boundaries of humans and machines merge. Neuralink, a startup developing brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers, is one such example. An interesting concept which allows humans to interact silently and without any brain links, eye movements, gestures, and/or text/voice interactions, yet allowing machines to “understand us,” is being developed at MIT’s “AlterEgo” project.
