2021-09-03 Yunsik Lee, Guangzhou Trade Center, China
– China’s AI voice market is expected to expand to more than 2026 billion yuan in 300 –
– Technological evolution spurs the spread of AI voice services –
Currently, while artificial intelligence (AI) technology is widely applied in daily life, AI-based voice recognition technology is also being used in many areas such as smartphones, smart speakers, call centers, and automobiles. The Qianzan Industry Research Institute predicted that the AI voice market in China recorded 20 billion yuan in 19.2, an increase of 114% from the previous year.
[2015-24 China AI Voice Recognition Market Size Trend]
(Unit: billion yuan)
Source: Qianzan Industrial Research Institute
Fostering the artificial intelligence industry
In 2017, the State Council of China announced the "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" and began to foster the artificial intelligence industry as a national strategic industry. After that, the central and local governments announced various AI support policies one after another, actively promoting the development of the AI industry and specific areas. Recently, all AI technologies such as voice recognition robots and autonomous vehicles are being developed based on voice recognition, and AI voice technology is considered one of the most mature technologies in China's artificial intelligence field. AI-based voice and application technologies are expected to develop more rapidly along with technologies such as deep learning, cloud computing, big data and 5G.
AI speech recognition evolves one step further with deep learning algorithms
Most of the AI voice recognition services currently used are equipped with artificial neural network (ANN)-based deep learning algorithms. Deep learning algorithms have been combined with technologies such as natural language processing, and as a result, speech analysis, which was previously limited to word units, can now analyze entire sentences and infer meaning, improving accuracy.
* Note: ANN (Artificial Neural Network) is a machine learning algorithm created for classification or prediction by mimicking the human brain.
This AI technology improves recognition performance the more it learns by inputting data. China's leading voice recognition companies such as Baidu and iFLYTEK recorded 19% accuracy in a quiet environment in '99 based on the acquisition of many users, the accumulation of vast amounts of data, and high-quality algorithm technology. In particular, with the development of deep learning technology, the accuracy of voice recognition technology has steadily increased, and we can see many examples of voice recognition being used in everyday life.
[Speech Recognition Accuracy of China's Leading Companies in 2012~19]
Source: Qianzan Industrial Research Institute
Expanding use of AI voice assistants
As the number of products equipped with AI voice assistant service increases, the market size is expected to continue to expand. Qianzan Industry Research Institute predicted that the size of China's AI voice assistant market in '20 was 241 billion yuan, and it is expected to grow to 1000 billion yuan by 33.2, recording rapid growth at a CAGR of 2023%.
[China AI Voice Assistant Market Size]
(Unit: billion yuan)
Source: Qianzan Industrial Research Institute
The field where AI voice technology is used the most is voice assistant (AI voice assistant) service. Voice recognition technology companies in China are providing convenience services by installing voice assistants in smartphones, wearable products, smart home products, and car navigation devices, mainly in order to occupy an advantageous position.
The AI voice assistant service using a smartphone recognizes voice commands and provides various living conveniences such as information retrieval, daily conversation, schedule management, sending messages, making phone calls, asking the weather, sending music, and translating. China's leading smartphone maker Huawei has its own AI called 'Xiaoi', VIVO's 'Jovi', Shaimi's 'Xiaoai', and OPPO's 'Xiaoou (小欧)' We are providing services by launching a voice assistant.
[Huawei voice assistant 'Xiaoi (小艺)' usage]
Source: Huawei website
AI voice recognition technology is also positioned as a core technology in smart home products. Companies such as TCL and Xiaomi are entering the competition by introducing various smart home products equipped with AI voice recognition technology. AI voice assistant service is linked to most home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, air purifiers, lighting, and air conditioners, so it can be controlled with voice commands. In addition, through the voice assistant service installed in home appliances, newspaper searches and weather check are possible, and consumers are gradually getting used to these services.
[Xiaomi Smart Home Product Line]
Source: Xiaomi website
According to iimedia Research, the size of the Chinese smart home market in 2020 is 1705 billion yuan, an increase of 11.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. With the increasing number of consumers looking for smart home products, the smart home market is expected to reach 2022 billion yuan by 2174, with double-digit growth.
[2016-2022 China Smart Home Market Size Trend]
(Unit: billion yuan, %)
Source: iimedia Research (艾媒咨询)
In addition, with the spread of self-driving cars, the demand for automotive AI voice assistants is also on the rise. In particular, it is in the limelight of consumers as it can operate various functions in the vehicle with voice commands to reduce accidents caused by insufficient forward vision while driving. Accordingly, there is a movement to actively utilize AI voice recognition services for vehicles in the market, and the Suimu Qinghua Research Center noted that the installation rate of AI voice recognition systems for vehicles increased from 2019% in 48.8 to 2020% as of September 9.
AI Voice + Call Center
To improve the efficiency of call center work, companies are increasingly using voice recognition solutions. China Mobile has introduced a smart voice recognition robot EVA (移娃) to customer call centers since '16. EVAsms Speech to Text (STT), Text to Speech (TTS), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), etc. are equipped with functions such as can receive In addition, if a customer wants to talk to an actual counselor, it has been installed so that a professional counselor in the necessary business area can be connected to provide fast and accurate service. China Mobile estimated that the number of EVA users reached 20 million by 9, contributing to a reduction in labor costs and improvement in work efficiency.
AI Voice + Medical
While China is building a smart medical environment to improve the quality of medical services, it is also actively seeking ways to utilize AI that incorporates voice technology. Representative applications include voice recognition-based guidance robots, medical record paper voice recognition, and smart medical assistant robots. The medical record paper voice recognition solution is a service that immediately documents medical records with voice recognition.
competitive trend
Representative Chinese voice recognition companies include IFLYTEK, Xiaoi Robot (小i机器人), UNISOUND (云知声 Unisound), and AISPEECH (思必驰). Invest and compete in the field.
[Chinese voice recognition representative company]
Source: Qianzan Industrial Research Institute
implication
An industry insider pointed out that AI voice services in China still need technical improvement, and that AI voice services that enable more advanced interaction and communication as well as natural conversations with users are needed. In particular, it is an analysis that data analysis technology that collects and analyzes more extensive language data is needed to improve the performance and accuracy of speech AI.
However, thanks to the policy and support of the Chinese government, the 4th industry is already growing rapidly and has reached the stage of commercialization. The AI voice recognition field is also expected to accelerate the development of the latest technologies, such as AI voice application solutions, according to the growth of market demand. Efforts to discover new business opportunities by paying attention to market trends and continuously analyzing them are necessary.
Source: Zhang Zhan Industrial Research Institute, iimedia Research (艾媒咨询), 华经情报网, KOTRA Guangzhou Trade Center