Microsoft's voice technology can recognize speech as well as humans can (MSFT)

Frequency of Voice Usage

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Microsoft is making great strides in the field of voice technology. The company has achieved a word error rate of 5.1%, which is on par with human-level accuracy, according to its research team.

The news comes just a year after Microsoft’s transcription system reached a 5.9% word error rate, which was initially considered to be the human error rate before further research studies found it to be slightly lower, at 5.1%. The breakthrough is significant as voice assistants are poised to be the next major computing interface for smartphones, wearables, connected cars, and home hubs.

The milestone points to Microsoft's achievements in human speech recognition. Microsoft was locked in a close race with IBM, which in March of this year achieved a 5.5% error rate, a vast improvement from its previous record of 6.9%.

Although voice assistants are well on the way to disrupting the way users interact with technology, there are several hurdles they need to overcome before achieving mass adoption.

Changes in consumer behavior and habits need to accelerate. For voice to truly replace text or touch as the primary interface, consumers need to be more willing to use the technology in all situations. Yet, relatively few consumers regularly employ voice assistants; nearly half of the US market doesn't use voice assistants, and 37% of US consumers believe that their experiences with voice assistants aren't up to par with their standards.
Voice assistants need to be more helpful. The number of skills users have access to is one key indicator of growth in the burgeoning voice computing space — the more voice app skills a voice assistant has, the more useful the platform can be for consumers. As of June 30, Alexa has more than 15,000 voice apps, Google Home has only 378 (up 24% in June), and Microsoft’s Cortana lags even further, with just 65.
The voice assistant ecosystem needs to become less fragmented. The nascent space has a number of tech companies vying to outdo one another as they compete for the same consumer pool. This creates an issue concerning feature support, as each platform offers a range of different capabilities. As each platform’s features evolve further, it will become more difficult for consumers to decide which device to purchase.

Jessica Smith, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the voice assistant landscape that:

Identifies the major changes in technology and user behavior that have created the voice assistant market that exists today.
Presents the major players in today's market and discusses their major weaknesses and strengths.
Explores the impact this nascent market poses to other key digital industries.
Identifies the major hurdles that need to be overcome before intelligent voice assistants will see mass adoption.

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