I THINK WE JUST FOUND
THE STAR TREK COMPUTER 💎
Something happened yesterday that I initially thought was an accessibility story. I’m no longer sure that’s big enough. I’ve used accessibility software for decades. Dragon NaturallySpeaking was one of my early encounters with speech technology, so I’m under no illusion that AI suddenly invented voice control.
It didn’t.
But traditional speech software still required me to operate the computer. I dictated words, corrected errors and worked inside the software’s rules.
Yesterday felt different.
I was writing something, but I wasn’t really dictating it. I spoke about what I wanted to say. I changed my mind halfway through. I corrected myself, refined the thought, wandered off and came back. And the conversation stayed with me.
SPEECH RECOGNITION CONVERTS SPEECH INTO TEXT.
THIS WAS HELPING TURN THOUGHT INTO WRITING.
That is the shift.
I didn’t have to formulate the finished sentence first and then dictate it. I could think out loud and let the writing emerge from the conversation. That is why it can feel almost like an extension of my own thinking. The gap between having the thought and getting it onto the page is becoming much thinner. And THAT is what I mean by the Star Trek computer. #STC
It isn’t one miraculous new technology. It is what begins to emerge when voice, language understanding, memory, reasoning and writing are joined behind one continuous conversation.
THE BREAKTHROUGH IS THE INTEGRATION.
Perhaps people with disabilities notice it first because we’ve spent decades feeling every bit of friction between thought and expression. Yesterday I thought I had discovered an extraordinary accessibility feature. I think I was looking at something bigger.
I wasn’t dictating to a computer.
It was thinking with me.
@3goodthings
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#Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #AI #VoiceTechnology #PeopleWithDisabilities #InclusiveTech #HumanComputerInteraction #DigitalAccessibility #STC
