From a wooden model to a voice powered by AI

Adriana Antunes' passion for programming began back in the 5th grade. Born and raised in Germany, she recalls a defining moment: a teacher stepped away from the planned lesson to present a personal project — a wooden urban model, computer-controlled, with streets, traffic lights and every detail of a small neighborhood. Console commands controlled the whole structure. That moment planted the seed.

Later, during career guidance, that enthusiasm hit a setback. Another teacher advised her, with full conviction, to choose something "more useful" — secretarial work, for example. Personal computers would never make it into people's homes, and stenography would never disappear.

The path to programming wasn't direct. After several experiences and alternative routes, Adriana completed training in business support, which gave her a solid base for understanding and following the different areas of company management and administration.

In 2019, she finally completed her programming training in Portugal. More than 1,500 hours later, she reached the goal that had started years earlier in a classroom.

influentbutton was founded in late 2022, initially focused on developing HMI — Human-Machine Interfaces. The move into AI solutions was a natural continuation of that work: at its core is always the same question — how do people interact with technology, and how can that interaction become simpler, more useful, and more human?

VOXIAL is the first product of this new phase.