SPEECH TECHNOLOGY IN THE YEAR 2001

This paper introduces the session ''Technology in the Year 2001'' and is the first of four papers dealing with the future of human-machine c ommunication by voice. In looking to the future it is important to rec ognize both the difficulties of technological forecasting and the frai lties of the technology as it exists today-frailties that are manifest ations of our limited scientific understanding of human cognition. The technology to realize truly advanced applications does not yet exist and cannot be supported by our presently incomplete science of speech. To achieve this long-term goal, the authors advocate a fundamental re search program using a cybernetic approach substantially different fro m more conventional synthetic approaches. In a cybernetic approach, fe edback control systems will allow a machine to adapt to a linguistical ly rich environment using reinforcement learning.