Webex meetings will use AI tools to help speech-impaired users communicate

Speech recognition company Voiceitt has announced it's integrating its technology into Webex Meetings. Building on Webex's existing live translations, Voiceitt's AI establishes and transcribes what people with non-standard speech are saying on calls. Its machine learning technology works by familiarizing itself with a person's speech patterns to better understand what they want to communicate, predicting phrases and elaborating on user-chosen shortcuts.

Voiceitt is available as a standalone app, but the new partnership means Webex Meetings will have a chat bar pop up with live transcriptions. "The integration with Webex is game-changing because it creates more independence for users with disabilities, while increasing the potential for more collaborative, inclusive work environments," Sara Smolley, co-founder and vice president of strategic partnerships at Voiceitt, said in a statement. "True collaboration means everyone at the table has a voice."

This partnership is one of many interactions between Voiceitt and Cisco, Webex's parent company. Cisco Investments provided capital in Voiceitt's latest round of funding. The pattern follows Amazon's investment in Voiceitt and subsequent integration of the technology into its smart home assistant, Alexa.

Cisco says Voiceitt should be available to download from the Webex App Hub for meetings starting in June and plans to make it available across the entire Webex platform by the end of the year.