In a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, Ericsson said that body language, facial expressions and intonation would augment voice and touch to control consumer interaction with technology devices.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the statement was signed by Mr Michael Bjorn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab.
“We are entering a future where devices neither have buttons and switches nor need to be controlled digitally via your smartphone.
“This may be a necessary change as it will be difficult for people to learn a new user interface for every device that gets connected to the Internet of Things.
“Today, we all know the intricacies of the devices you use, but in the future, the devices will know you instead.
“For this to become a reality, devices must be able to relay complex human interaction, data-to-cloud-based processing, and respond intuitively within milliseconds, increasing requirements on next generation connectivity,’’ Ericsson said.
According to the company, smartphone is most likely the first device that will expose consumers to the issues.
“Today, we already use biometric data such as fingerprints or even facial recognition to unlock the screen.’’
“However, if the smartphone were to use such information interactively, many will feel uneasy.’’
Ericsson said that the prediction was based on findings from its ConsumerLabs global research activities.
According to the company, 50 per cent of respondents said that inability to tell the difference between humans and machines would spook them.
Ericsson said that this would have implications for automation of some processes already underway.
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