Ep174: How Voice AI Is Transforming Industries with Deepgram

CEO Scott Stephenson explains how Deepgram's voice AI technology powers everything from pharmacies to drive-thru ordering and why, after so many years, Voice AI is now ready for prime time.

Topics Include:

• Scott Stephenson introduces Deepgram as an audio AI company building speech products
• Major brands like CVS and Anthropic use Deepgram to power voice agents
• CVS handles prescription status calls where 25-40% ask if prescriptions are ready
• Voice technology now accurately understands diverse accents and speech patterns from callers
• Automated systems free pharmacists to focus on their actual jobs instead
• Jack in the Box uses Deepgram for drive-thru ordering with natural conversations
• Previous McDonald's and Wendy's failures happened because the technology wasn't ready yet
• Voice AI can handle any task with text input like CRM notes
• Healthcare companies adopted voice AI faster than expected despite compliance hurdles
• Staffing shortages drove hospitals to push through HIPAA and regulatory red tape
• First misconception: AI will never match human performance in customer interactions
• Second misconception: one product should solve all voice-related business problems
• Companies must strategically decide what to build, partner on, or buy
• Deepgram's research team controls speech speed and outputs conversational data like timestamps
• Adoption will feel slow initially but suddenly be everywhere within three years

Participants:

• Scott Stephenson – Co-Founder & CEO, Deepgram

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