Amazon Alexa, the well-known digital assistant made by Amazon is creating chaos all over the world. Well, not literally everyone in the whole world but for some homes and offices where a human has the same name as the assistant, Alexa or Alex, and Alexis. This may not seem a very big problem, but imagine a computer activated assistant that has the same name as you and the amount of confusion that you will insist every day.
Amazon Alexa Causing Havoc For People With Similar Names
“Alexa, stop!” Joanne Sussman screamed in her living room, according to The Wallstreet Journal. Immediately, the artificial intelligence (AI) that is inside her Amazon Echo speaker stopped playing her favorite music station. Simultaneously, Mrs. Sussman’s 24-year-old daughter, Alexa, froze on the stairs. That is what happens when digital technology such as Amazon Alexa overlaps with reality.
The Echo is flashed into action whenever the user, or even anyone in your home, says the word or name 'Alexa' followed by a command such as 'stop' to pause music, 'buy' to buy the latest game console or 'update' to give you sports updates. But human Alexas are finding gadgets beeping into action or music stopping whenever their names are called in their own house. 'I always liked my name, until Amazon gave it to a robot,' Alexa Sussman, told the WSJ newspaper.
Another instance with Amazon Alexa's confusion also happened in a home in New York, according to DailyMail.The marketing professional from New York told how her father asked her to get some water from the kitchen, only for the Amazon Echo to whir into action. The speaker said: 'Amazon's choice for water is Fiji Natural Artesian Water, a pack of 24. It's £21, including tax. Would you like to buy it?'
The Technology Of The Amazon Alexa
The speed with which technology is overtaking and expanding its reach along with home assistant's increasing dependability on the machines is scary at best. From the overlapping with the reality issue, the conversations that don’t make sense because of the confusion caused when computers or AI start sharing their names with humans. It does not stop at AI or personal digital assistants but instead, extends itself to virtual reality and mixed reality.
All the technologies are actively taking over the human's reality, such as the view of the viewer, and change it according to their programming. This overlapping of reality and technology world is striking and worrying. There should be checks and balances, something like Amazon did by adding the option to change the name of its Digital Personal assistant.
