For years, voice dictation and commands had been available to users, and we were used to them not really understanding us. There’s only so many times you’re willing to use unnatural and rigid speech patterns only to find that the computer missed your point entirely, before you give up on it and go back to typing. But in 2013, Apple introduced Siri to the world – a device that actually understood you, and, more importantly, your context! And now we have Alexa (Amazon), Cortana (Microsoft), Watson (IBM) and Google (interestingly the only one to not brand their service as an individual).

This is what’s known as Natural Language Processing.

The ability for computers to infer our meaning, context and intent is a veritable holy grail for marketers. Every smartphone user is already walking around with it in his or her pocket. As the practical and technical barriers of understanding and actually hearing you continue to erode, users will come to verbally interact with computers more and more. So take advantage.