A word slurred. A gap in common experience. Not so for computers. At least, not yet. Smith is one of many computer scientists trying to improve the computer's ability to communicate with people through the spoken word.
Some researchers concentrate on programming computers to recognize speech.
This will allow him to take the computer through a three-step process of understanding. First, it verifies what was said. Then, it decides if what was said makes sense. If not, the computer must negotiate with the person speaking to figure out the source of the problem. The work is in the early stages, but Smith said the long-term goal is to make it easier for people to benefit from the power of computers.