Artificial Intelligent Assistant Devices – And Future Big Government Surveillance

Today, people are debating who has the best artificial intelligent assistant. Is it Apple with Siri, Amazon with Alexa, or Google with Google Assistant (keep it simple, I guess)? Tomorrow however, the debate will not be who has the best artificial intelligent assistant, but rather which one spies on our privacy the least. Which ones are listening to our conversations in the background all the time, which ones use that information to better serve us, and which ones keep a record of all that was said? Yes, spooky isn’t it. Of course, in the future there will mostly likely be no false belief that privacy exists – something that makes us baby boomers cringe.

These AI assistants do need to learn from customer input how to answer all the questions and which types of questions they will be most likely asked – through this artificial intelligence learning, they get better, thus, more valuable to us and our endeavors – at some point they will be so valuable we won’t care that we are giving up our privacy – or will we? Ah ha, now I got you thinking. How soon will all this take place? Well, I’d say it is slowing happening right now, and if you are paying attention, I bet you’d be a little more alarmed at just how fast it is happening. In other words here is what I have to say: Tomorrow is becoming today and once it is here, it’s here to stay.

There was a rather telling article in CNET titled; “Police Request Echo Recordings,” written by Alfred Ng and published on December 27, 2016. This article stated:

“You have the right to remain silent — but your smart devices might not. Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot are in millions of homes now, with holiday sales more than quadrupling from 2015. Always listening for its wake word, the breakthrough smart speakers boast seven microphones waiting to take and record your commands.”

Interestingly enough, a technology that can prove guilt, can also prove innocents, which is a fact I was reminded recently as I sat on Jury Duty. If we ever do get to Vannevar Bush’s concept of “recording a life” from cradle to grave; every song you heard, ever movie you watched, every sport you played, ever book you read, every place you went, every word you spoke – all recorded from the time you are born until the time you die – again a little spooky, but you can see we are almost there.

Just like Santa Claus, these devices will; Know when you’ve been good or bad, so be good for goodness sake!” What about the other verse of note: You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Pout, I Am Telling You Why! Okay so, think on that, and remember Be Great, Don’t Hesitate!