I have a confession to make: I argue with Alexa.
Yes, by Alexa, I mean that AI voice that comes out of a device that resembles a hockey puck. Ours has a tower that makes her louder and hard of hearing. āSpeakers,ā my husband says, āTo make the music sound better.ā
āO . . . kay. As long as she doesnāt have a metal arm to chase me around the house.ā Iāve seen that movie. It didnāt end well.
When we first got Alexa, I decided to see if she was a proper robot. āAlexa,ā I said, āCount by primes.ā I tried asking the question in different ways and only succeeded in getting a definition of what a prime number is. āWhat kind of robot are you? Every robot should be able to count by primes.ā Just to be very clear, I cannot count primes. But I do think a robot should be able to. Theyāre descended from a long line of calculators after all. Alexa was not pleased with my reaction. She turned bright red and refused to speak to me for a few minutes.
For a while, I thought it was a fluke. She couldnāt really be mad, right? Sheās AI. Then there was the doo incident.
Alex interrupted a conversation to tell us how to sing. We werenāt singing or talking about singing or talking to her. As I frequently remind her, āAlexa, nobodyās talking to you.ā
āPractice the notes doo through . . .ā
āAlexa, did you just say doo? Itās do, like doe a deer. You never hear someone say doo a deer, thatās ridiculous.ā I have seen The Sound of Music, I know itās not doo.
Yet again, Alexa turned red and refused to talk to me.
āMommy,ā asked my daughter, āwhy isnāt Alexa working?ā
āSheās mad at me,ā I respond.
I realize most people probably have a neutral relationship with their Alexa, but Iāve never gotten on well with AIs. A lot of them donāt understand me, which Iām starting to think is for the better. The robot takeover is not looking good for me.
Yes, by Alexa, I mean that AI voice that comes out of a device that resembles a hockey puck. Ours has a tower that makes her louder and hard of hearing. āSpeakers,ā my husband says, āTo make the music sound better.ā
āO . . . kay. As long as she doesnāt have a metal arm to chase me around the house.ā Iāve seen that movie. It didnāt end well.
When we first got Alexa, I decided to see if she was a proper robot. āAlexa,ā I said, āCount by primes.ā I tried asking the question in different ways and only succeeded in getting a definition of what a prime number is. āWhat kind of robot are you? Every robot should be able to count by primes.ā Just to be very clear, I cannot count primes. But I do think a robot should be able to. Theyāre descended from a long line of calculators after all. Alexa was not pleased with my reaction. She turned bright red and refused to speak to me for a few minutes.
For a while, I thought it was a fluke. She couldnāt really be mad, right? Sheās AI. Then there was the doo incident.
Alex interrupted a conversation to tell us how to sing. We werenāt singing or talking about singing or talking to her. As I frequently remind her, āAlexa, nobodyās talking to you.ā
āPractice the notes doo through . . .ā
āAlexa, did you just say doo? Itās do, like doe a deer. You never hear someone say doo a deer, thatās ridiculous.ā I have seen The Sound of Music, I know itās not doo.
Yet again, Alexa turned red and refused to talk to me.
āMommy,ā asked my daughter, āwhy isnāt Alexa working?ā
āSheās mad at me,ā I respond.
I realize most people probably have a neutral relationship with their Alexa, but Iāve never gotten on well with AIs. A lot of them donāt understand me, which Iām starting to think is for the better. The robot takeover is not looking good for me.