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A collection of articles, insights, provocations and trends on the latest in design, technology, business and culture

Views from the pond

What do AI agents mean for the future of brands?

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Future Sounds: AI Agents & Voice

<h3>AI agents in a new world of conversational interfaces</h3>
Hey, Siri. Can you tell me a story?
Siri read my children a bedtime story last night. It was actually pretty good—delightfully short and funny. In fact, my children were so entertained that they asked for a second story, this one about cats. They are an attentive audience, my children. This likely has a lot to do with how often I read books to them of an evening, which perhaps also led me to an unfortunate realization. As Siri came to the end of the second story, it struck me how flat and monotonous Siri’s voice was. I believe this is the reason that the story had not really connected with me emotionally. Later, once the kids were flying through the astral realm, I started thinking about the importance of tone of voice—how when it comes to emotional connection, it’s not always what we say but how we say it.
Tone of voice has always been an important element of brand expression, but as <a href="https://www.frog.co/designmind/next-gen-ux-from-apps-to-natural-language">generative AI</a> (Gen AI) evolves from a disjointed tool into a conversational, multi-modal, real-time interface, it will become even more crucial. This is the future sound of sonic branding beyond jingles and theme tunes.
Gen AI is moving brands beyond traditional engagement platforms, offering <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24030667/rabbit-r1-ai-action-model-price-release-date">dynamic, real-time interactive experiences</a>. The emergence of generative search means eyeballs are now being drawn away from your website. Generative Search Optimization (GEO) is replacing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Apps will soon be replaced by AI agents who will talk to all your apps on your behalf. Before too long, we will no longer need so many disconnected platforms and channels. This is because the AI agent will bring these elements together for us. It’s not hard to make the leap to a future where AI agents act as <a href="https://www.frog.co/designmind/the-ai-playbook">invisible assistants</a>, seamlessly coordinating a myriad of tasks across channels and platforms. Although, I do believe this also means physical experiences will become even more important, but that is a conversation for another day.
You will soon be relieved of the bureaucracy of everyday life. Think planning a weekend getaway while running on the treadmill: the AI agent could pick your location, make travel arrangements, order a book based on your habits and even book a restaurant before you’ve burned off your breakfast. If it could only do the running for you, too. But even here, you could even ask the AI agent to order you an ankle brace after you sprain it on the treadmill. Moreover, right when you need some emotional support, your assistant will respond to your requests in a cordial, human tone of voice. Unlike the monotony of Siri reading bedtime stories, the future sounds of Gen AI are warm and emotional.
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Hello, AI agent. Can you tell me how I am feeling today?
In a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mustafa_suleyman_what_is_an_ai_anyway?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TED Talk from 2024</a>, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, spoke about the need to see Gen AI as much more than just another tool or platform. In fact, he invites us to see Gen AI as new digital species. Building on this notion, he suggests Gen AI is something we need to treat with respect and nurture over time.

If you follow this logic, you start to see how <a href="https://www.frog.co/designmind/design-mind-frogcast-ep-54-confronting-ais-prophecy">AI agents</a> can become more than just a voice. It’s obvious that the shift to <a href="https://www.frog.co/designmind/design-mind-frogcast-ep-53-engaging-in-our-natural-language">natural language</a> will build more intimate interactions with customers. The AI agent will learn from your preferences and habits to become more contextually aware and emotionally intelligent. To be clear, I’m not saying the AI agent will be alive or in some way sentient. Emotional intelligence is not the same as general intelligence. It will still be an exceptionally clever digital ecosystem, but as it accumulates more knowledge about you, it will learn how to make its voice more personal to you.
And voice is just one side of the dynamic. It will also be listening to you. This means it will be able to tell you want you want to know in a tone of voice that is relevant to the prompt. Ask it whether the afternoon’s weather will be good for playing golf and it will answer enthusiastically if sunny or doleful if wet and windy. To go one step further, it will tailor its interactions to suit individual users around your household. Returning to the earlier example of reading a story about cats to my children, you can imagine how it might choose a more playful voice in the character of a cat.

Voice is so profoundly powerful that it can become the gateway to a broader sensory spectrum: sight, touch and smell. In this new <a href="https://www.frog.co/services/connected-world">connected world</a>, AI agents can transcend our imagination. They have potential way beyond a tool that merely books and orders items and services. This raises questions around companionship and the reliance on AI for emotional support. These days, we are being warned of soaring levels of loneliness and the many correlated health conditions. Don’t be too surprised if those figures decline with the proliferation of AI agents. But when it comes to the role of brands, the sense of isolation may persist. For instance, if my AI agent just talks to your AI agent, where is my interaction with your brand?
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What exactly is a brand these days?
The word “brand” means “to burn,” and was originally used to describe the act of marking livestock with a hot iron to signify ownership. As time went on, the term was used to describe the mark left on goods to denote their maker or origin. Today, this term has become a central part of an organization’s existence. The danger is that in this new world of AI agents, the role of brand becomes diminished.
Whether your brand develops its own AI agent or plans on optimizing another, it will be crucial to make the layer of your voice as distinctive as possible. Think of this as layers to a birthday cake. First are the candles and toppings (the brand layer). Next is the icing (the contextually relevant emotional layer that is individually personalized). The rest of the cake is the LLM layer, which is the driving force behind the voice.
Taking all this into account, one question comes to the fore. How do you determine the literal voice of your brand?
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<h3>“A brand should determine its own voice by aligning it with its mission, values and target audience. A brand voice should reflect the personality and identity of the brand, as well as the tone and style that best suit its communication goals. A brand voice should also be consistent across all channels and platforms to create a recognizable and memorable impression on the customers.”</h3>
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The above paragraph was written by Gen AI. It’s not wrong; it’s just not very creative. The answers for the brand layer of your voice are probably already within your brand expression, but as we pivot away from brand guidelines towards a branded voice, that should only be the starting point. It needs to be approached in a way that tells a story about your brand and is told in a creative way that aligns with how you want to sound (and without having to spend millions on licensing the voice of a celebrity). The role of data—private data to be anonymized, public data to be mined, commissioned research and even the use of creative data—is your secret weapon when creating your brand voice.
For example, if I were a consumer goods brand with a familiar founder, I might model the brand voice on all our founder’s thoughts and recordings, along with all the phrases that capture the personality of the brand. If I were a global sports brand, I wouldn’t have one voice, but multiple voices aligned to each sport, utilizing voices from my most effective ambassadors and campaigns. If I were a financial services brand, I would record the voices of my customer service agents, taking particular care to capture regional differences and needs.
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Distant echoes of future sounds
Some of the world&#8217;s smartest organizations, especially those where brand is a true differentiator, are already exploring their voice and this new era of conversational interfaces. And just like the rest of your <a href="https://www.frog.co/services/customer-experience-design">Customer Experience (CX) strategy</a>, this exploration needs to be strategically relevant, distinctive and showcase your brand’s personality. Unlike the rest of your CX strategy, it will be the most emotionally intelligent asset you have in your portfolio—something you will need to protect and nurture. It will be something that I hope will be able to tell my daughters an emotional and entertaining tale about our feline friends for their next bedtime story.

Ed Bolton

Author

Futurescape: 25 Key Trends for the Next Quarter-Century

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