BURLINGTON, Mass. -- Nuance Communications, Inc. today unveiled the Nuance Lightning Engine, a new AI tool that uses 4th generation deep neural nets (DNNs) and combines voice biometrics and natural language understanding (NLU) to deliver more personalised and human-like experiences across voice channels. With the new engine, a single human command to a smart speaker, virtual assistant or IVR is enough for that system to understand who is talking and what it is they want in as quick as half a second.

Consumers are increasingly using voice to engage with the world around them – from communicating to their cars for directions to accessing their bank accounts via their smart speakers. The Nuance Lightning Engine allows consumers to set up a unique voice profile as part of an organisation’s account enrollment. When they contact that organisation on a voice channel, all they need to do is speak naturally and their identity is confirmed almost immediately, and a personalised interaction begins. No passwords or knowledge-based questions are required. Until now, the industry standard for authenticating someone through voice biometrics analysis with so little speech was through a specific passphrase. The Nuance Lightning Engine cuts that standard speech time in half, allowing organisations to validate a given person’s identity through natural utterances faster than the human ear.

The Nuance Lightning Engine has been made available to a number of strategic customers through the Nuance Intelligent Engagement Platform. The technology is expected to be generally available this Fall.

Nuance Communications