Voice Vs Text In GenAI: Why India's AI Future Hinges On A Sovereign, Voice-First Approach
India's digital transformation hinges on a Voice-First approach, championing regional languages to drive true digital inclusivity.
By Ankush Sabharwal
In the digital world today, the choice between Voice-Enabled Virtual Assistants and Text-Based Chatbots is not just on the basis of presence. It questions the very grounds of interoperability and efficiency for Human-Centric Conversational GenAI. Now, as AI permeates our everyday life, India's path to Sovereign AI and Secure GenAI asks for careful coexistence of both, particularly in those where Domain-Specific LLMs are concerned.
Global Adoption and Growth
The rapidly expanding field of telephony AI is revolutionising how businesses interact with their customers over the phone. Consumers across sectors embrace voice for its convenience, feeling, and adaptability, with industries such as e-commerce, healthcare, and finance boasting great adoption and satisfaction rates.
For instance, 56% now utilise voice technology for food orders; 44% for banking-related activities, with increasing numbers leaning on it for customer service and companionship, often powered by advanced telephony AI systems.
Key advantages of Voice over Text
Hands-Free Convenience: A Boon while multitasking through cooking, driving, or exercise, hence VoiceBots ensure safe voice navigation.
Nuanced Conversations and Emotional Detection: AI Assistant extends context-aware empathy support 75-85% of the time through tone, pitch, or emotion. Text ChatBots offer only 60-70%.
Accessible AI: The voice interface presents against the eye-hand barrier for both the visually challenged and non-literate, providing Accessible AI Food for Easy Living.
All Time Efficiency: The VirtualAssistants (VideoBots, VoiceBots, ChatBots) work 24 hours daily at about 30% less cost and increase agent productivity by approximately 1-1.2 hours per day.
Domain-Specific LLM Integration: A voice interface provides easier access to the administration of domain specialisation, like healthcare, banking, and commerce-through Domain Specific LLMs underlying telecom bots.
Composite AI with lightweight AI and Lifecycle-Based Approach
AI Agents, when composed of Causal AI, Predictive AI, and Generative AI (GenAI), can deliver extremely high accuracy with low cost, minimal energy consumption, and virtually no hallucinations. This is achieved by relying on lightweight AI models and invoking GenAI only when necessary to complete an end-to-end use case.
To optimise performance and efficiency, we should use Small Language Models (SLMs) - such as Google’s Gemma 2, Microsoft’s Phi-3, and CoRover’s BharatGPT Mini - instead of Large Language Models (LLMs) wherever possible.
Security, Sovereignty and Trust
India's vision for AI systems that are Sovereign and Secure mandates. According to this mandate, conversational systems must be secure enough, culturally sensitive, and of national fabrication.
Since India is interested in Sovereign AI and Secure GenAI, conversational systems must be safe in an environment-based context and localised to be sovereign.
Where Voice Leads
Operations in Healthcare: VoiceBots have quadrupled the speed of calls, becoming a companion to elderly patients.
Customer Support: Voice AI offers speedy solutions to issues and can respond to emotions~70% satisfaction for mobile voice assistants
E-commerce & Retail: 56% of voice users order food; 44% perform banking transactions; personal recommendations help drive sales.
Public Services & Governance: Voice bots reduce wait times as they engage citizens in their language to foster ease of living.
Banking & Insurance: Voice assistants simplify processes for policy renewals, fraud alerts, and balance checks-with the emotional component being the fastest resolution when compared to text-only bots.
Travel & Tourism: VoiceBots simplify many travel tasks, from booking flights to translating directions abroad. For train travellers, Ask Disha 2.0, an AI-powered chatbot, offers real-time support for train ticket bookings on the IRCTC website, easing what can often be a confusing process.
Defence: In high-risk environments, secure voice-based assistants will allow for real-time communication and decision-making on mission-critical levels without manual interference-which text-based bots can not do when under stress.
The Way Forward
India's digital transformation hinges on a Voice-First approach, championing regional languages to drive true digital inclusivity. The vision is to create a "Genie-like" Conversational AI - proactive, intuitive, and deeply attuned to local nuances.
Achieving this requires Domain-Specific AI Models that ensure accuracy, contextual relevance, sectoral depth, and personalisation. This isn’t just about meeting today’s needs - it’s about building a trusted, sovereign, and innovation-led digital society for all.
(The author is the Founder and CEO, CoRover)
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP Network Pvt. Ltd.
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