---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Text input is certainly useful, but…"
description: "\"Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are a much more natural way for humans to express their queries. Infants learn to see and speak w..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg"
---

#  Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are…

![“Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are a much more natural way for humans to express their queries. Infants learn to see and speak well before they learn to type. The same is true of human evolution - we've had spoken language for a long time compared to written language, which…” quote by Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg)

> “Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are a much more natural way for humans to express their queries. Infants learn to see and speak well before they learn to type. The same is true of human evolution - we've had spoken language for a long time compared to written language, which is a relatively recent development.”

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Humans naturally communicate via vision and speech; text is less innate and slower to learn.

**In simple terms:** People prefer seeing and speaking over typing.

Key Takeaway

Leverage multimodal interfaces.

Themes

communication human nature technology

Mood

thoughtful analytical

Type

observational strategic

When to use this quote

- customer support chatbots
- voice assistants
- educational tools
- accessibility solutions

Key Concepts

cognitive development language evolution AI interfaces

Questions to Reflect On

- How can we balance multimodal ease with the need for accurate records?
- What contexts still favor text over speech or images?

A Different Perspective

Text may still be essential for precise, formal documentation.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Human evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-evolution/) [Input](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/input/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Learn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learn/) [Learn Type](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learn-type-1196390/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-time/) [Queries Infants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/queries-infants-1196389/) [Text Input](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/text-input-1196391/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Written language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/written-language/)

## Related quotes

> [Literacy, written language is a very late acquisition in terms of human evolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-berko-gleason/literacy-written-language-is-a-very-late-acquisition-in-terms-of/)

[Jean Berko Gleason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-berko-gleason/)

> [Computers rather frighten me, because I never did learn to type, so the whole thing seems extraordinarily complicated to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-keating/computers-rather-frighten-me-because-i-never-did-learn-to-type-so-the/)

[Charles Keating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-keating/)

> [No matter who you are or what you plan to do in life, learn to type!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-smith/no-matter-who-you-are-or-what-you-plan-to-do-in-life-learn-to-type/)

[Liz Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-smith/)

> [“The Cardinal was bent over his writing desk, the room unchanged save for the light of what appeared a small antique oil lamp. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/the-cardinal-was-bent-over-his-writing-desk-the-room-unchanged-save/)

[Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/)

> [ Thoughts are created in the act of writing. \[It is a myth that\] you must have something to say in order to write. Reality:… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-smith/thoughts-are-created-in-the-act-of-writing-it-is-a-myth-that-you-must/)

[Frank Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-smith/)

> [“while they read and talked together, there was opened before them the great book wherein God has written, in the language of mountain, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bell-wright/while-they-read-and-talked-together-there-was-opened-before-them-the/)

[Harold Bell Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bell-wright/)

> [The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/the-book-of-nature-is-written-in-the-language-of-mathematics/)

[Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/)

> [The most important lesson in the writing trade is that any manuscript is improved if you cut away the fat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/the-most-important-lesson-in-the-writing-trade-is-that-any-manuscript/)

[Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/)

> [“In this respect, the Chinese written language has a slight advantage over our own, and is perhaps symptomatic of a different way of thinking.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/in-this-respect-the-chinese-written-language-has-a-slight-advantage/)

[Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/)

> [The chief virtue that language can have is clarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hippocrates/the-chief-virtue-that-language-can-have-is-clarity/)

[Hippocrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hippocrates/)

> [“In Western languages, reading and writing involve turning from left to right, and therefore exercise the brain’s left hemisphere. Written language, invented by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-h-pink/in-western-languages-reading-and-writing-involve-turning-from-left-to/)

[Daniel H. Pink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-h-pink/)

> [Do we regard language as more public, more ceremonial, than thought? Just as family men condemn the profanity on the stage that they use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/do-we-regard-language-as-more-public-more-ceremonial-than-thought/)

[Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/)

> [A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-strunk-jr/a-drawing-should-have-no-unnecessary-lines-and-a-machine-no/)

[William Strunk, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-strunk-jr/)

> [“We are not told, or not told early enough so that it sinks in, that mathematics is a language, and that we can learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-j-adler/we-are-not-told-or-not-told-early-enough-so-that-it-sinks-in-that/)

[Mortimer J. Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-j-adler/)

> [The earliest language was body language and, since this language is the language of questions, if we limit the questions, and if we only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-earliest-language-was-body-language-and-since-this-language-is/)

[Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/)

## More by Andrew Ng

> [There's a very long tail of all sorts of creative products - beyond our core web search, image search and advertising businesses - that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/there-s-a-very-long-tail-of-all-sorts-of-creative-products-beyond-our/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [With human inspectors, it's difficult to get even the same person to make consistent judgments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/with-human-inspectors-it-s-difficult-to-get-even-the-same-person-to/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [No one knows what the right algorithm is, but it gives us hope that if we can discover some crude approximation of whatever this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/no-one-knows-what-the-right-algorithm-is-but-it-gives-us-hope-that-if/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [I think the first wave of deep learning progress was mainly big companies with a ton of data training very large neural networks, right?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/i-think-the-first-wave-of-deep-learning-progress-was-mainly-big/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [Imagine if your success in life is determined only by your guts, your hard work, and your willpower, and not by the wealth of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/imagine-if-your-success-in-life-is-determined-only-by-your-guts-your/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [I joined Baidu in 2014 to work on AI. Since then, Baidu's AI group has grown to roughly 1,300 people, which includes the 300-person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/i-joined-baidu-in-2014-to-work-on-ai-since-then-baidu-s-ai-group-has/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [In English, there is one word for sister. In Chinese, there are two separate words, for elder and younger sister. This is actually a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/in-english-there-is-one-word-for-sister-in-chinese-there-are-two/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [One of my philosophies of building companies is the importance of velocity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/one-of-my-philosophies-of-building-companies-is-the-importance-of/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [If we can make computers more intelligent - and I want to be careful of AI hype - and understand the world and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/if-we-can-make-computers-more-intelligent-and-i-want-to-be-careful-of/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [In my own life, I found that whenever I wasn't sure what to do next, I would go and learn a lot, read a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/in-my-own-life-i-found-that-whenever-i-wasn-t-sure-what-to-do-next-i/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [In Silicon Valley, there are a lot of startups using computer vision for agriculture or shopping - there are a lot for clothes shopping.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/in-silicon-valley-there-are-a-lot-of-startups-using-computer-vision/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [We can build a much brighter future where humans are relieved of menial work using AI capabilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/we-can-build-a-much-brighter-future-where-humans-are-relieved-of/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [As leaders, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure we are building a world in which every individual has an opportunity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/as-leaders-it-is-incumbent-on-all-of-us-to-make-sure-we-are-building/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [Want to train a machine translation system? Train it on a gazillion pairs of sentences of parallel corpora, and that creates a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/want-to-train-a-machine-translation-system-train-it-on-a-gazillion/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

> [The Chinese market is very different. One of the things that I believe is that the biggest, hottest tech trend in China right now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/the-chinese-market-is-very-different-one-of-the-things-that-i-believe/)

[Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

[Explore all 103 Andrew Ng quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/)

## More Communication quotes

> [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-robison/some-people-still-believe-you-should-just-fall-in-line-with-what-s/)

[Emily Robison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-robison/)

> [The problem posed by indirect speech acts is the problem of how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-searle/the-problem-posed-by-indirect-speech-acts-is-the-problem-of-how-it-is/)

[John Searle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-searle/)

> [We should have a conversation when we hang up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benedict-cumberbatch/we-should-have-a-conversation-when-we-hang-up/)

[Benedict Cumberbatch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benedict-cumberbatch/)

> [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/)

[Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/)

> [“To engage in dialogue is to serve others via whatever is real inside you; to engage in debate is to ultimately serve the illusions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oli-anderson/to-engage-in-dialogue-is-to-serve-others-via-whatever-is-real-inside/)

[Oli Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oli-anderson/)

> [What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-waters/what-it-comes-down-to-for-me-is-this-will-the-technologies-of/)

[Roger Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-waters/)

> [In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. Smashing heads does not open minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/in-dialogue-there-is-opposition-yes-but-no-head-on-collision-smashing/)

[Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/)

> [A dialogue is very important. It is a form of communication in which question and answer continue till a question is left without an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/a-dialogue-is-very-important-it-is-a-form-of-communication-in-which/)

[Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/)

> [I get afraid of the dark if I'm in a great deal of dark, and I have to move around inside of that fear...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emil-ferris/i-get-afraid-of-the-dark-if-i-m-in-a-great-deal-of-dark-and-i-have-to/)

[Emil Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emil-ferris/)

> [I've been in a serious conversation with one of my children, and a fan has come up. I've been in a public bathroom and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-reddy/i-ve-been-in-a-serious-conversation-with-one-of-my-children-and-a-fan/)

[Helen Reddy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-reddy/)

> [Life as we know it is fundamentally unsatisfying. I think most folks feel this to be true. They know that a life of aimless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-yates/life-as-we-know-it-is-fundamentally-unsatisfying-i-think-most-folks/)

[Michael Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-yates/)

> [Disability, in general, hasn't been included in the conversation about inclusivity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-winston-george/disability-in-general-hasn-t-been-included-in-the-conversation-about/)

[Jason Winston George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-winston-george/)

> [“Women will be at least 50 percent of the communications community workforce … from executive suite to interns. Why? The “integrated” agency will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoram-wind/women-will-be-at-least-50-percent-of-the-communications-community/)

[Yoram Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoram-wind/)

> [There are certain things you must not say in spite of the fact that supposedly democracy means free speech. No. You are not allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-eubank-sr/there-are-certain-things-you-must-not-say-in-spite-of-the-fact-that/)

[Chris Eubank Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-eubank-sr/)

[Browse all 21,506 Communication quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are a much more natural way for humans to express their queries. Infants learn to see and speak well before they learn to type. The same is true of human evolution - we've had spoken language for a long time compared to written language, which is a relatively recent development.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Andrew Ng"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-images-and-speech-are-a-much-more/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Communication"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-images-and-speech-are-a-much-more/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/andrew-ng-5131_communication_text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-image_1705769.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Text input is certainly useful, but images and speech are a much more natural way for humans to express…” — Andrew Ng",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Andrew Ng",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Text input is certainly useful, but...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-images-and-speech-are-a-much-more/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/text-input-is-certainly-useful-but-images-and-speech-are-a-much-more/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
