Graphic Content: AI Assistants

Amazon has Alexa. Google has Assistant. Microsoft has Cortona. Apple has Siri. These artificial intelligence voice-activated virtual assistants can do more than schedule alarms and play music – they’ll play a big role in the commerce of the future. ETA’s Payments Trends to Watch predicts that voice-enabled commerce through in-home devices like smart speakers will contribute to $150 billion in connected-device transactions in 2018.

And research suggests that consumers see the commerce capabilities of the AI assistants as a major benefit to their proliferation. According to Statista research, as of last year about 33 percent of Americans currently regularly use Google Assistant, where 32 percent use Siri, 21 percent use Cortona and 17 percent use Alexa.

Regarding shopping, Americans can see use cases for their virtual assistants to help them. E-Commerce was understandably the most popular option, according to Statista data, with 46 percent of Americans saying they would like to use the assistants while shopping online. About a third said they would like to use the assistants in restaurants, and 26 percent said for paying utilities. Even 17 percent indicated they would be interested in using an AI assistant for governmental communications and payments.

Further, nearly 40 percent answered that better guidance when purchasing good and services is a benefit of the increasing popularity of virtual assistants. Given that modern payments solutions often seek to emphasize experiences and integrate value-adds that extend beyond the standard EMV dip, the outlook that AI assistants could benefit the shopping and payments experience for consumers could lead to opportunities for integration. And 6 in 10 Americans think that more convenience in daily life will be a benefit of AI assistants, another key outlook for payments industry professionals looking at AI and voice payments.

Don’t forget to register for ETA’s upcoming webinar on Conversational Commerce, featuring Google’s Artificial Intelligence team. Click here to register.