Small design decisions by big tech companies can play a role in directing our attention.
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Articles on Digital assistants
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Digital assistants have been defaulted to having female voices because of how developers and coders view women’s labour.
Virtual assistants and robots are frequently given female attributes. To curb the massive use of such gendering in AI, we need to better understand the deep roots of this phenomenon.
Leading tech companies are increasingly using AI to influence our behaviour. But how persuasive do we find virtual assistants?
When hosting a dinner party, are you obliged to let your guests know that you own a smart device like Amazon Echo or Google Home? The answer is yes, according to a privacy researcher.
The first thing to know is that Siri is not a “who” – Siri is a “what”.
There are mounting calls to dismember the likes of Google, Apple and Amazon, but most people seem to have overlooked the biggest threat of all.
When an African grey parrot named Rocco made purchases via his owner’s Amazon Alexa voice assistant, it raised questions about who was legally responsible for footing the bill.
It probably won’t surprise you that if you ask Alexa to give you the best price on a product, the assistant will usually offer the price that’s available on Amazon.
Reports of the death of accents have been greatly exaggerated.
There are several reasons people might find smart devices equipped with an always-on microphone both attractive and unsettling.
Apple’s closed system may be its undoing in the smart home market.
Once you have the ability to speak to a digital assistant from any room in the house, the obvious next step is to make the house able to listen.
This will be the year when the Internet of Things becomes intelligent – and useful.
Top contributors
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Associate professor of regulation and governance, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, School of Sociology; Geary Fellow, Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin
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Associate Professor – Information & Communication Technology (ICT), CQUniversity Australia
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Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide
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Senior Lecturer of Human Computer Interaction, Department of Computing, Sheffield Hallam University
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Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Manchester Metropolitan University
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Lecturer in Computer Science/Co-founder Women Leading in AI, Keele University
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Professor of Strategy and Organisation, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
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Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Technology, Kansas State University
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Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Guelph
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Principal Lecturer, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Brighton
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Lecturer, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney
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Professeure en Marketing éthique, TBS Education
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Head of Anticipatory Action and Innovation, UNU Centre for Policy Research, United Nations University
