AT&T Watson Speech Engine to Power Interactions' Virtual Assistants

AT&T and Interactions last week announced a licensing agreement to incorporate AT&T Watson speech technology into Interactions' speech-enabled virtual assistant applications. 

Through the licensing agreement, the two companies will also collaborate to enable high-performing, speech-powered virtual assistants designed for enterprises with customer care needs.

The AT&T Watson speech engine includes automatic speech recognition (ASR) and natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities.

"By combining AT&T Watson with our virtual assistant technology, we're taking ASR and NLU to a whole new level of performance," said Michael Iacobucci , CEO of Interactions, in a statement. "The speech applications that result from this synergy routinely amaze and delight the people who interact with them, completely changing people's expectations about what is possible in self-service customer care. What we're delivering represents a quantum leap beyond anything that's been possible with applications built around conventional ASR technology."

"AT&T harnesses the principles of collaboration and openness to empower others to deliver new, digital and personal experiences," said Mazin Gilbert , assistant vice president of technical research at AT&T Labs-Research, in a statement. "And the addition of AT&T Watson to Interactions' service platform is an example of how AT&T's approach to innovation gives licensees access to the power of our world-class tools and platforms, enabling them to deliver impactful new products and services into the marketplace."