Humanizing AI

@dragon54u (31636)
United States
January 13, 2019 10:42am CST
I've noticed that there are some very clever efforts to humanize AI (artificial intelligence) devices, particularly Alexa, on the radio lately. Marketing has to be clever in order to sell things and this particular campaign is genius because people are falling for it. To explain, it all involves changing one word--switch "program" to "teach". According to the commercial you can "teach" Alexa the "skill" to go to your favorite radio station. You're actually not teaching the machine anything, you are programming it, activating a program that is already seated but needs a verbal key to activate it. However, by "teaching" "her/she" to find your favorite station your illusion that the machine has a human element is reinforced. You have taught it, much like a parent teaches a child, and many people tell me that they love Alexa, how much "she" helps them and saves them time. I won't go into the massive invasion of privacy that I'm sure you've heard and read about but this machine is not a friend to a free society. By humanizing it, more and more machines are being sold and installed in millions more homes and offices. 65.7% of people own just one smart speaker while 7% have 4 or more and even more own more than 2 but less than 4. Do you own a smart speaker? If so, are you concerned about privacy issues? If not, do you plan to get one? And is the speaker more like a friend or do you view it simply as a useful machine? What are your thoughts on the sneaky way that advertising humanizes AI to encourage us to buy it?
3 people like this
3 responses
@WorDazza (15833)
• Manchester, England
14 Jan 19
It was Aldous Huxley who said "People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think". How right he was!!
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
17 Jan 19
I remember that and have thought of it for years as each new mind-numbing craze has caught on. Now you can even have a smart speaker in your Roomba, the automatic vacuum that skates around cleaning up after you. Lots of people these days do very little active thinking and that is not "progress" it is a disaster.
1 person likes this
@WorDazza (15833)
• Manchester, England
17 Jan 19
@dragon54u I think progress can be viewed in two ways. Is it technological progress and is it progress in terms of advancing mankind? A lot of new technology is the former but, despite the best intentions, quite often turns out to NOT be the latter.
@JudyEv (326063)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jan 19
I don't want anything that impinges on my privacy. I think this sort of thing is only going to get worse as in more invasive.
1 person likes this
• Pamplona, Spain
5 Feb 21
I don´t have a smart speaker no and I don´t see the need for one as to yet. About those privacy issues I am a bit concerned yes.