Voice-Activated Technology's Impact on Consumers' Lives

Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with Pete Erickson, Founder of Modev and the VOICE Summit, from the Amazon Alexa VOICE Summit at NJIT, to explain how we are currently in “the voice-first era” and the impact AI (artificial intelligence) technology will have on consumers.

9/24/18 #2166

Excerpt:

"Steve Adubato here at NJIT, New Jersey Institute of Technology. This is the Voice Summit. This room was just filled with about 2,000 people, they're now in another room listening to panel discussions, keynote speeches, and the gentleman sitting across from me has had an awful lot to do with bringing in all these folks to Newark, New Jersey. Pete Erickson, Founder of Modev, and Founder of this, in fact, Voice Summit. Did I say it correctly? Modev? Modev? Yeah. Modev? Yeah. And it stands for? It stands for Mobile Development, which is really where we got our start 10 years ago, just after the iPhone had come out. There was a need to bring people together around this new technology. So Modev was born. What do you mean there was a need to bring people together? Well, technology can't happen unless people come together to build technology. So I saw the need, and I created a community around that. So I created Modev. I was living in Washington, D.C. and there was a need to bring people together. I sort of filled that need, and I decided after putting on my first conference, I really enjoyed it a lot. And that's now my full time vocation. Where did you grow up? So I'm from the West Coast. So California, then Seattle. So I've really spent my... Any high tech going on in Seattle? Yeah, well there's... I'm joking! I'm joking! Yes. Seattle's changed a little bit over the years. It's a... yeah, it's a very tech city, but when I got to D.C. there wasn't as much tech. So I needed to bring the people together. This summit, again, we're talking to all kinds of people, fascinating folks from all different walks of life. Why are they here? Well, they're here because we're on the precipice of this new era. It's called the Voice-First Era. So we just... The voice? The Voice-First Era. And we're just coming out of the Mobile-First Era. We all have smartphones now. We all tap, swipe, and pinch. We weren't doing that ten years ago. So we've just gone through this amazing transformation. Well, the next transformation is happening. It's the Voice-First Era. And the people that are here, from eight countries, from 30 states, 2,500 people, they're here because they're interested in being on the forefront of this new transformation. What's so fascinating to me is, just in talking to you for two minutes, it's very clear to anyone watching as well, you're a people person? [laughter] Yes. The idea of being a "people person" - enjoying, engaging with other people, and technology, you're not a programmer are you? It's funny..."