Bergur Thormundsson
Research expert covering technology in the Nordics, AI and smart cities
Virtual Assistant Technology in the U.S. - statistics & facts
In times of limitless technological innovations, emerging tech such as the Internet of Things (IoT) has taken many forms and shapes. The IoT consists of interconnected devices that feature automated systems and is being increasingly associated with objects that can “talk to each other”. A virtual assistant, or an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that performs tasks or services for a consumer based on their commands. Run on various devices, from smart speakers to smartphones and wearables, virtual assistants are one of the main use cases of voice technology, the market size of which is expected to hit nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars globally by 2029. Virtual assistants have already been widely used given the ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing popularity of smart speakers: there were nearly 140 million voice assistant users in the United States in 2022.
Amazon’s lead begins to diminish
While Amazon has been the ultimate leader among vendors of smart speakers with intelligent personal assistants, the company experienced a significant decrease in its market share during the past years. As the most recent data shows, Amazon still held the largest market share, followed by Google and Baidu. The success of Amazon’s line of smart speaker products has led to an increasing emphasis on smart devices in general but recent tech layoffs, particularly those planned by Amazon, are likely to see drastic cuts in employment within the smart speaker and virtual assistant programs.The U.S. move to the virtual world
The United States, as is the case with many consumer trends, is a leader in the trend of using virtual assistants and smart speakers. Most U.S. citizens have been using voice recognition programs for one to five years. This use of voice assistants is then split very differently by device, with each of the major tech firms claiming a specific piece of technology for their voice assistant. The variety of uses for voice assistants are many, with anything from news to communications being available. The most used aspect, however, is the search for the current weather. Hardly surprising as it does impact everyday life the most.
