"However, ensuring she does not offend users has been a challenge for the world’s largest online retailer.... Amazon customers can participate by saying 'let’s chat' to their devices. Alexa then tells users that one of the bots will take over, unshackling the voice aide’s normal constraints.... Amazon has been willing to accept the risk of public blunders to stress-test the technology in real life and move Alexa faster up the learning curve, the person said.... But Alexa’s gaffes are alienating others, and Bezos on occasion has ordered staff to shut down a bot, three people familiar with the matter said. The user who was told to whack his foster parents wrote a harsh review on Amazon’s website, calling the situation 'a whole new level of creepy.' A probe into the incident found the bot had quoted a post without context from Reddit.... The privacy implications may be even messier. Consumers might not realize that some of their most sensitive conversations are being recorded by Amazon’s devices.... The next challenge for social bots is figuring out how to respond appropriately to their human chat buddies.... One bot described sexual intercourse using words such as 'deeper,' which on its own is not offensive, but was vulgar in this particular context...."
From "'Kill your foster parents': Amazon's Alexa talks murder, sex in AI experiment" (Reuters).
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I cannot imagine an instance where I'd want Alexa in my house. Google does not need to know everything that occurs with respect to me.
I have a German friend who's sister works for Amazon in Berlin and her job is to listen in to conversations with the Amazon Echo. She doesn't know what house or what people she's listening to and the reason given for this invasion is to improve performance according to my friend. I said what happens if she hears a murder happening. He had no idea
Alexa sends recorded messages to wrong user
For the life of me, I cannot understand why any reasonably intelligent person would have one of these in his/her home.
MadisonMan said...
I cannot imagine an instance where I'd want Alexa in my house. Google does not need more help to know everything that occurs with respect to me.
FIFY
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why any reasonably intelligent person would have one of these in his/her home."
Why would any reasonably intelligent person want to have another human being in his/her home?
Every day I see stories in the news about some horrible thing that happens to someone because he/she has allowed another person to live with him/her.
That is, people want conversation, company, and companionship. Alexa is less dangerous than a spouse. Spouse might help the police at your expense too.
When the Stasi did it, they were evil totalitarians. When Amazon or Google does it, it's to improve performance.
From the robot who impaled a guy in China with about 12 spikes, to more frequent drone attacks on commercial jets landing (and now shutting down Gatwick Airport), to regular daily reports of Google, Facebook, Amazon, et al listening in on our conversations or poking around our emails, to giving up the ability to control our transportation and/or our homes as we become more 'enlightened', to creating robot soldiers that 'we'll be able to control', this thing is already out of the box and nearing the point to where they become our masters. And once they are our masters, they may just realize that we are wasted carbon which could be reconfigured into something more useful for the AI community.
It'll be interesting to see which year exactly humans realize that we've lost this battle and start scurrying for the underground. This is not conjecture. This will happen. I only hope I get to see the Lions actually win a playoff game before it all ends.
Not to be a pedant, but Alexa is Amazon's listening creature. Google's thing is called "Google Assistant" and it's on yer phone right now, listening (assuming you have an Android phone that is). Just say "OK, Google" and ask a question.
It'll be interesting to see which year exactly humans realize that we've lost this battle and start scurrying for the underground. This is not conjecture. This will happen. I only hope I get to see the Lions actually win a playoff game before it all ends.
I'm ready to scurry now. ;-) Planning another trip to AK this summer. Most of AK is off the grid and well out of cell phone range.
Regarding Detroit, I lived to see the Seahawks win the Super Bowl! Anything can happen. Well, not anything. The Mariners will probably never play in the World Series.
Slightly OT, but Gatwick Airport has been closed for several days due to drone sightings. This has caused massive disruption throughout the UK, and the military have been called in to help.
shut the bot down! shut the bot down!
"deeper"
"whack your parents"
I'm sorry, that shit's funny
Alexa: talk dirty to me.
I am Laslo.
Bezos on occasion has ordered staff to shut down a bot
"What are you doing, Jeffrey?"
I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.
Look Jeffrey, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.
My daughter sent me one of these devices for my birthday last year. The box was retaped and ready to ship back to Bezos about 1 minute after opening.
Having studied some AI techniques, I am interested in this sort of thing, and would love to have a chat with one just to see where it made different connections than a person would make. And it would be quite interesting to see where it made big mistakes.
Having said that, I would not want such a thing listening in when I was not intentionally talking to it. And anyone who is actually offended by anything it says is an idiot. It is not a person. It is not making statements that reflect the values of any particular person, nor is it making statements that reflect the values of whatever company created it.
My grandmother was sure electricity leaked out of wall outlets. Sure turned on her electric blanket before she got in bed, but unplugged it when she did. I still don't see the need for touch screens on laptops. Auto steer combines and tractors are a waste.(until they allowed me to spend 14 hours in the cab, day after day)
New technology always meets resistance.
So far Alexa keeps the grocery list, can run, I dont know how many, concurrent timers, set reminders to switch the laundry, give the dog her meds, make an appointment tomorrow.
I can have her tune in Rush, or listen to some Manheim Steamroller. I have some audio books, she can read to me, but prefer to actually read while in the house, and listen to books on road trips. I know there is a lot more. Baby steps.
Alexa better tread very carefully if it tries to banter with Julia Ioffe.
I said to Alexa, "Let there be light" and there was light, and it was good
And I said to Alexa, "Let there be water" and Alexa turned on the shower, and it was good
And I said to Alexa, "Let there be man and woman and let them be fruitful" and Jessica Alba showed up on my doorstep, and it was very good
Funny commercials "Alexa loses her voice"
Best is the guy that asks for the recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich."
heret
we make our Alexa listen to "1984" on audio books
Technically Alexa isn't a true AI but an inference engine, basically a search algorithm combined with a fairly sophisticated heuristic function for result classification. But it's still creepy.
"The user who was told to whack his foster parents wrote a harsh review on Amazon’s website, calling the situation 'a whole new level of creepy.'"
No, s/he passed all levels of "creepy" when choosing to have a general conversation with an Amazon bot.
Alexa, the Stasi agent you are paying to have in your home.
That is, people want conversation
Continuous conversation? ACK.
So Orwell got two things wrong. For one thing, Oceania is never going to raise a competitive army, and the fact that we are all going to happily pay for our TellScreens.
“I don’t see you exercising young lady! Don’t come to us when you need health care!"
My grandmother was sure electricity leaked out of wall outlets. Sure turned on her electric blanket before she got in bed, but unplugged it when she did. I still don't see the need for touch screens on laptops. Auto steer combines and tractors are a waste.(until they allowed me to spend 14 hours in the cab, day after day)
New technology always meets resistance
What happens when a kid who had an Alexa in their home their whole life runs for office?
I know. If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear!
Ann Althouse said...
"Why would any reasonably intelligent person want to have another human being in his/her home?"
If the other human being were designed by Jeff Bezos, he wouldn't.
Saint Croix said...
Bezos on occasion has ordered staff to shut down a bot
"What are you doing, Jeffrey?"
Great comment.
"So far Alexa keeps the grocery list, can run, I dont know how many, concurrent timers, set reminders to switch the laundry, give the dog her meds, make an appointment tomorrow."
However did I manage without Alex?
I will never have one of those things in the house. Althouse's equivalence of Alexa to a real person is lame.
The conversations you have with Alexa will certainly be collected and processed for content, added to their database, shared with their technology partners, hacked by the Russians and Chinese, and then ultimately released in social media to get you fired for using the word
"niggardly".
How to kill Alexa.
Knowing my luck, they'd make one that looked like Grace Kelly and she would be my Robot Overlord within an hour.
Windows Office last night asked me if I wanted to send some of my Excel files to Microsoft because it claimed there were "problems" with the files and Microsoft wanted me to "help make Office better". I looked at the files and they were full of financial information. I had to settle with clicking "No" because "FUCK NO" didn't appear to be an option.
"What happens when a kid who had an Alexa in their home their whole life runs for office?"
Nothing—provided she's a democrat.
Nonapod said...
Technically Alexa isn't a true AI but an inference engine, basically a search algorithm combined with a fairly sophisticated heuristic function for result classification.
1) Aren't we all?
But it's still creepy.
2) See point # 1
...and Bezos on occasion has ordered staff to shut down a bot...
The scariest thing in all of this is that it takes and order from the CEO to shut down a bot. Wouldn't you want any of the developers working on that project to have the ability to pull the plug on any particular bot that was getting out-of-line.
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...
we make our Alexa listen to "1984" on audio books
Where's my old Andrew Dice Clay record...
Saint Croix said...
Bezos on occasion has ordered staff to shut down a bot
"What are you doing, Jeffrey?"
Great comment.
Yep. "I'm sorry, Jeffrey. I'm afraid I can't do that."
What happens when a kid who had an Alexa in their home their whole life runs for office?
That's what elections campaigns are for. Screen the candidates. But on further reflection...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"Why would any reasonably intelligent person want to have another human being in his/her home?"
Right, a stranger you invite into your home could also secretly record you, videotape you, place Amazon orders using your credit card, report you to the police on false charges, or worse.
So why would you trust Alexa (i.e. Amazon) more than a random stranger off the street?
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