Ericsson Predicts That In 2019 Humans Will Rely More On Virtual Assistants

With the strong emergence of social media, we are already living double lives. With technology’s nonstop advancement, people would soon be able to be at two places at the same time. And all of this might be coming soon next year. Ericsson, a firm specializing in digital communications, just released its predictions for 2019. And according to its predictions, humans are presumably going to rely more on technology, especially virtual assistants. These predictions are backed up by surveys which are conducted by the firm.

Moreover, virtual assistants will become more intelligent and able to understand our mood to behave accordingly.

Virtual Assistants Will Predict How You Feel

According to Ericsson’s predicts, 2019 will be the year of “awareables” devices. 42% of the survey’s participants think that virtual assistants will become smart enough to understand how you feel, even better than your family and your friends. This data will be used to suggest suitable products. 41% believe that if you own two virtual assistants, a battle might happen between them if their opinions conflict, which will be undoubtedly fascinating to witness.

These virtual assistants will be in charge of bill tracking, grocery refilling, etc. Moreover, technologies including VR and AR will help users advancing their skills via interactive methods.

AI Will Save The World?

As virtual assistants will monitor their consumption, users will be able to be aware of how their lifestyle affects the environment. This will help lessen the number of vital resources being wasted like electricity and water, which in the long run will reduce pollution.

In its report, Ericsson also envisions that the rise of VR and AR will cause people to prefer being in their virtual world. From the survey, 48% of the respondents express their desire to have their virtual appearance looking the same as their appearance in the real world.

You Might Get Mental Obesity

These advancements, however, will also have their drawbacks. Ericsson’s report indicates that as a consequence of automation, our brain might be incapable of making decisions that are considered basic. This is something Ericsson called “mental obesity”.

And there’s this fear of being continuously tracked by smart assistants. Also, the virtual assistants would give out conditions and terms that users might be forced to follow.

Although there will be a rise in the harmony between artificial and real intelligence, the fear of always being tracked or even manipulated is something we should not bypass. However, readers need to take into accounts that these are only speculations based on surveys.