Talking to Laberty (and having it talk back)

Ask Laberty is the talking way to print. Instead of finding a household in a list, the person says who the card is for — "send a birthday card to the Hendersons" — and taps the answer.

It can also add someone new, fix an address, take a household off the list, and remember a birthday so the labels come around again next year. Nothing is ever printed, saved or removed until someone taps a button that says so.

The screen

One conversation, and one thing to do at the bottom:

• The big microphone — hold it and speak. Hold it down, say the sentence, let go. The words appear in the box so they can be checked before they are sent.
• The text box. Typing always works, on every device, even if the microphone does not.
• Send.

Under the conversation are the buttons for whatever is being decided right now: That's right — review and print, Yes, add this household, or a couple of short answers to tap instead of talking.

Everything is always written down. Whatever the assistant says is on the screen as text. Sound is an extra, never the only way to know what happened.

Having replies read out loud

If your workspace has voice switched on, the assistant can say its replies:

1. On the assistant screen, tap Speak replies. It is remembered for that person, on every device they sign in on.
2. After that, a reply is spoken as soon as it arrives.
3. Stop stops it. Play says it again.

Why does it sometimes wait for Play? iPads only let a page make sound right after a tap. If a reply arrives another way, Laberty shows a big Play button rather than surprising anyone with a voice.

Tap Speak replies again to turn it off. Nothing else changes: the conversation works exactly the same, silently.

Setting it up (admins)

Go to Admin → Assistant → Voice & settings:

• Speak replies out loud — the workspace-wide switch.
• Let Simple-mode people use voice — whether the member's screen gets it at all.
• Which voice — two voices, each with a name you can change and a Play sample button, so you can hear them before choosing. If the names look swapped, rename them; nothing else in Laberty describes them.
• Speaking rate — a little slower is often easier to follow.
• Characters a month — how much the assistant may say in a month. The page shows how much has been used.

If voice is not set up on your deployment, none of this appears and the assistant simply stays silent. Ask whoever runs your Laberty.

What it costs

• Each message to the assistant is one AI action, whether it was spoken or typed. Holding the microphone uses one action for turning the recording into words. See AI actions and packs.
• Speaking a reply out loud is not an AI action. It has its own monthly character budget, set on the same admin page.

Privacy

• A recording is sent away to be turned into text, and the reply text is sent away to be turned into speech. Neither is kept, by Laberty or in the conversation.
• The assistant only ever works with the households on the printing list — nothing else in Laberty is ever part of the conversation or spoken aloud.
• Start over clears the conversation. It also clears itself once something has been printed.

If it does not hear you

• "Hold the button while you speak" — the microphone was let go too quickly. Hold it down for the whole sentence.
• "I didn't catch that" — try again a little closer, or type it.
• The first time, the iPad asks for permission to use the microphone. If it was refused, turn it back on in Settings → Safari → Microphone.
• Typing always works. If the microphone is having a bad day, nothing is lost.

Setting up the person who will use this screen: Adding a member.