The base of Amazon Echo, a smart speaker home of voice agent Alexa
Considering the evolutionary ladder of user interfaces, you might think the voice user interface (VUI) will replace the graphical user interface (GUI).
According to two voice interface experts, it’s not like humans and dinosaurs. In this evolutionary scheme, VUI and GUI will co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.
Part of that symbiosis is the similar pronunciation of their acronyms. VUI is pronounced “vooey,” a counterpart to GUI’s “gooey.”
Tom Hebner, currently Global Head of Innovation at voice tech firm Nuance and former head of the VUI team there, told me that his company — a leader in voice recognition — has been using the term VUI since the turn of this century.
“One of my objectives was to get rid of the name ‘vooey,’” he said, although that effort has failed. “Now, I’m stuck with ‘vooey.’”
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