Alexa, Should We Trust You?

Source: Judith Shulevitz
Affiliation: The Atlantic

This article discusses the potential of voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant to change our society. A big purpose of digital voice assistants is to deliver “frictionless” experiences for getting information and completing tasks. However, there are profound psychological effects of hearing human (or human-sounding) voices and how manufacturers of smart speakers capitalize on these effects. The author warns of the potential existential threat of frictionless-ness and the potential threat of voice assistants to our psychological well-being.

Keywords: Automation , Computer Science , Tech Ethics