Speech recognition systems grow up

In this 9:38 minutes video, the managing director of VeCommerce Paul Magee demonstrates how speech recognition is being used by Australian betting firm UniTab to enable punters to make complicated wagers without requiring a human operator.

Magee visited the ZDNet Australia offices last week to show off how the UniTAB system allows callers to speak using natural language and gives them the freedom to change their minds half way through a transaction.

Using a standard mobile phone and his personal betting account, Magee puts the system through its paces. At one point, ZDNet Australia's Munir Kotadia pushes the system to a point where it is so confused it decides to hand over the call to a human operator.

In the video, Magee also explains how Australian Health Management, one of the country's largest insurance companies, has deployed voice biometrics to bypass the necessary -- but annoying -- authentication questions that usually precede most of their enquiries.