The use of artificial intelligence-based voice assistants is growing rapidly, thanks the consumer interest in “smart home” devices offered by Amazon, Google, Samsung, Apple, and others.

That in turn has fueled the rise of voice search and changed the way consumers connect with local businesses and services.

About 12 percent of consumers surveyed by tech consultancy Parks Associates say that they used smart speakers with voice assistants during Q1 — more than double what that adoption rate was a year ago. (Incidentally,Dina Abdelrazik, Research Analyst, at Parks Associates, tells GeoMarketing that consumers may be over-estimating that usage a bit. More on that below.)

“In the past five years, voice control and voice-based technologies have experienced massive growth in the consumer market, igniting the competitive landscape among current and emerging smart home players,” said Dina Abdelrazik, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Voice interfaces are advancing due to continued improvements in machine learning and natural language processing, paired with the prevalence of portable devices. Apple increased consumer familiarity of voice control with its introduction of Siri in 2011, but the later-to-market Amazon Alexa has taken a clear lead in this category.”

From the article "Consumers’ Adoption Of Voice Assistants Doubled In Q1 – Here’s Why" by David Kaplan.