N. Raghuraman's column: Soon we will use more 'talking' technology instead of 'typing'

So far, you and I have been complaining that most of us keep typing something or the other on the road, on the train or in public places, with our eyes fixed on the mobile screen. But don't worry, the AI has heard your complaint. People will now look you in the eye and keep talking. Hey, don't panic. They will not talk to you, but only with their phones. Now people are not talking to anyone else on the phone, but dictating their mobile — taking notes like a secretary and sending them to the people they want. Now imagine that you are traveling in a packed local train in Mumbai and everyone is talking on their mobile. The mobile is recognizing their voice and converting it into a message. Imagine how noisy the trains will become? Yes, the world will gradually get used to AI dictation apps like 'Whisper Flow' developed by a San Francisco-based startup. This AI will punctuate and format the correct places in your random-C copy. Through this, you can speak an average of 110 to 125 words per minute, which can be at least twice the average typing speed and sometimes up to three times. In today's time, everything can be done by typing. But Gavin McNamara, the founder of software agency Why Not Us, is using 77 apps and has spoken 300,000 words in the last five months. That's the equivalent of writing three novels. Welcome to the world of the future. Here, the tech giants want us to interact with technology through 'talking' instead of 'typing' in the use of AI and large language models. Voice-to-text dictation apps are becoming the new trend, as their use is much faster than typing. Tech industry leaders are also creating new ways to use AI. Meta's new smart glasses are completely dependent on voice. OpenAI and Meta have designed different personalities for voice chat with their bots. AI upgrades are being made to Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. The preparation for the 2026 Emmy Awards was also done with a similar technique. All these changes will ensure that by the end of this year, we will be talking with more technology than using fingers. These new dictation apps are based on the AI model 'Whisper'. The company that created ChatGPT launched it as a basic technology in late 2022 and worked on it to facilitate live dictation. Although there are some free options, a paid subscription of up to Rs 500 a month can come in India. In developed countries, it can cost around $10. You can still see that tech users of a certain age are 'talking' from their computers for emails and SMS. This leads to faster completion of the work. And that's why people are willing to go for the paid version. Coders from different companies have also started using this technology in large numbers, so as to save time for a cup of coffee. They first pour out all the ideas, then let the AI do the coding and get on the keyboard themselves for the final editing. Soon you may hear things in offices saying, 'Hey, you have a good voice, but not for the office.' Get in the car and scream to your heart's content. Intelligent people are using headphones to make people think they're on call. Overall, they are social hacking. The trap is that the keyboard is going to be useless and the world around us will be noisier than ever. We have to be ready for the war against noise pollution very soon.