Will the growth in generative AI tools for speech recognition kickstart a new wave of voice-enabled gaming experiences?
As much as we like to write about cutting-edge technology here at Always Scheming, new inventions frequently struggle with commercialization. In such cases, breakthroughs sometimes emerge not from the groundbreaking new creations themselves, but rather from the ingenious repurposing of once-overlooked technologies in conjunction with these novel developments. Reassessed from new perspectives, this tech that was once constrained by its era can discover a second chance at meaningful impact and relevance.
Perhaps the most famous historical examples of this in the games industry have come from Nintendo. The original Game & Watch system was a repurposing of existing calculator technology. Similarly, the motion controls of the Wii were based on patents licensed from a company called Gyration, which was first awarded those patents back in 1999 for use in aviation a full seven years before the Wii would release.
Another technology that we believe may be poised for a similar type of resurgence is speech recognition. The growing capabilities of neural networks, transformer models, and generative AI more broadly will allow this previously under-utilized technology to expand beyond the domain of so-called “voice assistants,” such…