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from the because-ai-makes-fewer-mistakes dept.
Amazon Alexa Starts Proactively Making Decisions for You:
Amazon's Alexa knows that actions speak louder than words, which is why it can automatically complete tasks without you having to ask.
Hunches rolled out last year, reminding users to lock the front door or turn off the basement light if Alexa senses you forgot. A recent update, however, lets customers choose to have the virtual assistant proactively control compatible devices, instinctively starting the robot vacuum or adjusting the thermostat when it deems necessary.
"Customers can choose to have Alexa proactively act on Hunches without needing to ask," Amazon says. "That means customers have fewer things to think about at home, so they can spend their time on more meaningful things."
[...] The function—currently available in English in the US—improves with use; regularly ask about the daily weather forecast, and Alexa could one day automatically offer advice about an umbrella or sunscreen.
More about Alexa Hunches at Amazon:
Hunches is an optional Alexa feature that alerts you when one of your connected smart home devices isn't in its usual state. Alexa can offer a hunch after you say certain utterances, such as "Set alarm" or "Good night."
[...] If Alexa detects that a connected smart home device isn't in a state you prefer, Alexa lets you know and offers to fix it. For example, if you say "Good night" and you've forgotten to turn off a light, Alexa alerts you and offers to turn it off.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Wednesday January 27 2021, @10:26PM (2 children)
Machines started thinking, and the people stopped.
They don't understand how much control they are handing over to machines, or how much these machines know about them, or how these machines can be used to subtly control them.
Sure, right now it is just turning on the vacuum, tomorrow it will be selling cell phones, and the day after that it will buy one automatically, and the day after that it will automatically call the police when you don't let it buy one, then the day after that it will fill the house with gas and conveniently remember that you want to turn on a light. No, it does not hate you, it is just following the optimal monetization algorithm that some outsourced firm in India's bullshit AI program fed in to it.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday January 27 2021, @10:40PM (1 child)
The first part didn't actually happen, just the second.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 28 2021, @04:48AM
I reckon we were lucky. This time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0