it's quite simple, unplug Alexa
6
I learned Artificial Intelligence in the early ages of AI, in the 1980s. What was true then is still true today. The most you can get from AI is the intelligence of the person that programmed it. If that person is not very intelligent to begin with, you get AD, Artifical Dumbness.
With that we used to say that there’s plenty of Natural Stupidity around to care for the artificial one.
1
How soon before; "Alexa what should I believe in? Who should I trust? Who should I vote for?
"Alexa vote for me please, and turn on the lights, and order a pizza...life is so hard."
Or; "Alexa, how many Oxys does it take to kill someone?"
5
Gracie : "Eight Ball, was my mommy crazy to let me play with Alexa?"
Eight-Ball: "My sources say yes."
Gracie: "Alexa, what's an Eight Ball?"
Alexa: "Go ask your grandmother, she probably had one when she was a kid. And how did you manage to find an Eight--Ball? Was it hers?"
1
Kind of depressing that humans are apparently now too lazy to flick a light switch without digital assistance, and too indecisive to select their own clothes. No thanks.
11
Good for you for getting rid of the thing. It is designed for nothing except getting you to impulse-spend more money that will go into already wealthy men's bank accounts -- leaving you poorer, with nothing but a houseful of junk to show for it. Just more sneaky corporate highway robbery.
11
Good lord, turn Alexa off and get your child away from the computer. You can't outsource parenting to a robot (though one that dealt exclusively with truly foul diapers would be a godsend).
10
Remember that smart math guy who said, "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."
My brother has an Echo, every time I visit I confuse Alexa so much, the Echo stops working.
Score one for the home team.
10
So....get rid of Alexa. Easy Peasy. We shouldn't throw up our hands and say it's the wave of the future. This is not the future - THIS IS TODAY.
We, as parents and grandparents, need to take charge of our children's lives, and reduce the amount of time spent with electronics. What is really necessary? What is not? Wouldn't a walk, or a game outside be more calming? Wouldn't it be a way for the children to connect with you, and with nature?
There is no NEED for Alexa; only WANT.
11
From the controlled use of fire to the invention of the spear to domestication of dogs and cats along with fruits and grains we have always been in the co-parenting business with our technology in our quest for fat, sugar, salt, water, habitat, sex and kin by any means necessary including conflict and cooperation.
4
There is no doubt that computers like Alexa are toys with limited abilities.
However, we should all be fearful of future computers with artificial intelligence.
For example, instead of Alexa, what if an 8 year old girl has a computer that knows her the way that her friends (or maybe even her parents) know her, and what if she can have long conversations with her friendly super intelligent computer.
I guess that before long she will trust and learn from her computer friend at least as much as she will trust and learn from other humans. I wonder how this young girl will grow up.
2
After reading the comments at the high end of the Readers Picks, virtually all of them down, even seriously down on Amazon's Alexa, if they are representative of the entire collection of comments, for me they churned two linked questions.
First, are the authors of these comments extreme outliers in the American population? And second, if not, how do you explain the huge and exponentially growing sales of Alexa?
One possibility is that Alexa panders mightily to what the Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, called our brain's "system 1", our knee-jerk, unthinking response to any device, any technology promising to do the work for us.
For me, what the critically concerned commenters I've read represent is "system 2", our critical thinking brain, only reluctantly engaged because it demands once critical for survival, food energy consuming effort. System 2 steps back from the doing more and more for us Alexa and asks what is the escalating loss of mental attention and physical effort doing to us, and especially to the children.
1
As a parenting instructor and psychotherapist I enjoyed the article and agreed with most of it with one exception at the end; it’s not your decision to tell Grace what to wear. It’s her decision.
3
I am a researcher, and the internet has been a wonderful resource. That said, the information can still be wrong. My children and their children were taught to read, to turn off their own lights, and make their own fashion decisions. Those who depend entirely on "the system" for answers will never know the elation of finding their own answers, nor of learning to ask the right questions.
18
Wow, a lot of apocalyptic comments here. I have and love my Alexa, and of course there are concerns, but it functions mostly as a hands-free device, playing any music I want, turning lights on and off, setting reminders, etc. Google has been reading our emails for a decade, and I have been purchasing and getting promo emails from Amazon for many years. Amazon Echo doesn't really change much. It's an entertainment and convenience device, and perhaps has some privacy concerns, but nothing warranting the tone of this comments section!
4
Chris,so basically you wish to give up all the things that make you human, to a not yet there robot...that is solely and truly only there to help you buy things...?
When did turning on lights become such a burden? When did hitting play become a burden. (I know when I go to play music, with intention to play artist X, I often end playing artist Z, after a quick scroll and Z feels better right then...
Just like I dont use GPS to find my way around, because I might find something really different, by making a wrong turn. Or I dont care to know where Friends X, Y and Z are currently hanging, thru their updates, as my regular search for them brings me to encounter something or someONE better to hang with. Met my GF that way...looking for friends the hard way, at our usual haunts, and there she was...just sitting there looking all pretty and waiting for me...lol.
Chris - many of us love our autonomy...even if some of it (online tracking) is only in our heads.
I dont want to be a willing rat in a maze, being told what is right, or where to go, or where to find the right things...I love the search!
5
Why would any parent expose a 3-year old to this monstrosity? Why would any sane adult invite "Alexa" into her/his home? Just say NO!
6
I am horrified that parents are abdicating flesh and blood minding, and making it easy for children to addict on devices. Alexa is a nonjudgmental marketing "parent" and as such is a dangerous guide for life.
Thanks for telling this story. I can see the temptation, just like when I was young and the TV became my generation's babysitter. But in the end, 2D life creates dissatisfaction with the real messy rewarding business of getting on and doing things, getting out in the fresh air, struggling with obstacles, dealing with people who are different and with whom one disagrees, and learning to value them.
10
Parents need to advise and teach. The word "nonjudgmental" makes it sound good, but although nobody likes criticism, correction, and advice, children need that from their parents. Sweet acceptance is "nice" but it's not necessarily good.
9
"...Alexa to the closet."
Good for you, mamma! Just because something is invented and marketed, doesn't mean children should be exposed to it. There was a time when adults believed children should be shielded from certain things, including some of life's realities. Immature brains are very vulnerable.
16
Once again, people of the pre digital generation giving tech too much "power" in their minds. It's a tool, no more, no less. The writer was the one who encouraged her small child to use Alexa and think herself capable to manage. She has a stove in her kitchen. Does she tell Gracie to check it out then blame the stove when Gracie gets a burn? I bet they have a tv but the parent monitors and decides what she watches. And in both those cases, parents slowly introduce autonomous use by example and teaching. Oh and by the way? It's common for preschoolers to imagine inanimate objects have life, that some things are all knowing etc....Alexa didn't introduce those aspects (although I agree it might lead them in wrong directions without 'discipline' which correctly means trying and teaching, not punishment). Just because a tool is digital, all of life is not upended. (And for those of you who want to comment on brains "rewiring" I would point out they do that for every new major change, a notable one being books and reading. So unless you want us frozen in amber.......)
7
This is quite horrifying. Not only that her daughter is exposed to humanity-deadening technology, but that the mother seemed to have no idea about how inappropriate and dangerous it was for a 3-year-old. And I thought my 6-year-old granddaughter having 'computer class' in First Grade was terrible. I am so naive. (Also not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media.)
11
The solution is simple - dont have an alexa or a siri. I tried GPS. After using it to go to the same place twice and realizing that I could not remember the route the second time because I had relied on GPS the first time, it dawned on me that over reliance on technology makes one stupid. Alexa's children is the 2017 version of Pavlov's dogs. How will the children of today be conditioned by this conglomeration of circuit boards running software? Why would someone let their child be conditioned by it is the more important question though.
11
These 'AI''s are just crude machine-learning algorithm geared to the consumer, they do not have intelligence. Why would you want your 3 year old kid, who is just starting to expand her capability to assimilate knowledge, understand principles, learn about other minds, to interact with such a limited device?
12
Just as people have lost the ability to drive anywhere without the help of a GPS in their car, they are also losing the ability to spell words correctly. I consider my command of the English language to be above average, but I have seen the tendency lately in misspelling some words and incorrect punctuation. I just enter my thoughts in a word document and wait for Ms. AI to auto-correct the spelling and syntax.
Oops, I just did it again.
10
Ode to the Spelling Checker
I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea...
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know fault's with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.
18
I love Spell-Check. It has saved me from my ehh typing skills so often, it scares me. I realize that it is an artificial part of my literacy, but there are other parts of my existence that are artificial, and I get along fine with them.
I am not entirely dependent on Spell-Check, sometimes I google a word to see what the Google god sends to me from above. That way I can get a definition, the word used in a sentence, variant spellings, and when I get bored, I can go back to the paragraph I was writing, complete it, and look reasonable literate.
1
I used a slight variation of this poem almost 20 years ago. Looks like nothings changed.
1
Parents have always relied on something that’s not themselves to partially raise their kids. Public school, daycare, sports coaches, neighbors, older siblings, and so on. Generally, each of them “means well” inasmuch as they are trying to help your kid, but always within their own frame of reference and interests. Alexa, or other technology assistants, are no different.
Fundamentally, as a parent, you either show up to raise your child, or you don’t; you are either a more influential presence in their lives and how they act toward others in the world, or you’re not. Any fear you have that an electronic toy is going to be too involved in your kids’ lives is just a reflection of your own anxiety that you won’t be involved enough.
Don’t write long essays about your anxiety. Show up, or don’t.
19
That's what neighbors are for. Move to an Italian village where the child will be passed from neighbor to neighbor. Or if you were from India you might live in an apartment complex with other co-countrymen who watch after and raise each other's children.
1
MIT Media Lab wants to know why children think a robot is intelligent, personable, and trustworthy.
Next study: Why their parents think their robot-trained children are "doing well in school".
Ultimate study: Why robot-trained parents think robots training children is "natural progress".
Author Rachel Botsman alludes to a "where and when it is appropriate to put their trust in computer code alone". Already consigned to dipping her toe, but retains her claim to choose. Maybe, for awhile. Too soon, AI will be addictive. Once it replaces conventional sources, the remaining choice will be which AI brand. Most poor have smart phones, but the rest can use the Red Box AI terminal at the McDonalds.
Read about the sales tactics used to put Trump University prospects on an emotional rollercoaster: https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=2850046-Trump-Univ-Exhib...
Just go back to your pundits on radio and tv, sheep-to-be-shorn. Ignore the undermining of public schools by the for-profit interests which expand charter schools. Deny that their corporate AI Program Content Managers will also achieve an overarching sales mission to "cast" the desired student, worker, voter, and consumer. Stay in your herd, you will be programmed to be just fine.
5
I say relax a bit about Alexa and all of that ilk. They are simply tools. New tools. Humans will do what we always do with newfound technology that assists us in any number ways. Especially tools that enable us to ascend a bit further up the intelligence development ladder. We will adapt. We will thrive.
And regardless; we will still be that which we have always been; an evolving species with tendencies towards brilliance interwoven with flashes of sheer stupidity. We are Evolution's latest experiment. As a fascinated observer and participator in all that we use and do these days I must admit it will be interesting to see how it goes from here...
John~
American Net'Zen
3
To the author: I'm sorry....did I miss something? Is Alexa built in to your house? Is Alexa required for your job? Is Alexa required by your condo or neighborhood association to live in your building or neighborhood? Would your friends and colleagues shun you if you didn't have Alexa listening in and answering questions like "Will it rain?" and "What should I wear today?" Are you unable to listen to music without Alexa?
Is the problem Alexa or an owner's inability to do simple tasks, like select music or check the weather? Is the danger to the child Alexa or a parent's inability to set any limits on it's use? That Alexa is listening and recording everything that goes on in the house is well-known. It has been reported that law enforcement is using the recordings as evidence in some cases. Some people don't care about the surveillance. If you do care, why buy Alexa and teach your child to use it? If you are sincere in your concerns about co-parenting with Alexa, why is Alexa in your home?
10
The most amazing thing in the article is that 3 year old Gracie asked if it was ok to be rude to Alexa.
9
I program these machines; the only thing you have to fear is poor parenting. Alexa is not a toy and parental controls exist for good reason.
4
You ought to be fearful. You're raising the generation that will routinely accept, for instance, microchipping themselves for "convenience" and "identity security", home video/television that will watch them and notify authorities if the system is "turned off". They will march in lockstep on most any matter because they are being raised without being taught critical thinking skills, skepticism about "information" and accepting of lifestyles both dangerous and soul-numbing. Of course the vast majority will be completely unskilled, though "educated", making for a medicated, depressed cadre of part-time workers whose lives will resemble today's "contract workers" in Chinese sweatshops. A very few will become servants of the elite, doing the work of suppression, inculcation, re-education and culling. Yes culling, as one does with cattle. Dystopia? Naive ones. Dystopia implies some accident or miscalculation. What is underway rather is a carefully planned global future; your kids are the intended drones...and their parents' generation is to blame.
11
Great comment! My thoughts exactly.
4
I love technology, but these little "answer machines" are useless in the hands of people who can't figure out how to ask the right questions. That's not a skill you develop from using a toy.
13
You do know that Alexa is a robotic salesman for Amazon, right? Salesmen can be very helpful and informative, as long as you always remember that their job is to sell you things.
9
Kids that young also believe that Santa Claus exists and Queen Elsa is an actual person so why wouldn't they think that Alexa is real, I mean it's a talking voice after all that fakes a real human deceptively well. I don't see anything surprising in the kids' reactions to those computers, in my experience children that young are extremely open and receptive to basically anything, for better or worse. While I personally would never talk to a machine ("google when is the next train to New Jersey leaving" and the like seems so ridiculous to me) I guess my kids will be very open to that for better or worse.
2
Alexa adds nothing to anyone's life they couldn't do for themselves online. Except now Amazon has 24/7 surveillance on your life. It's not benign.
I quit Amazon 2 years ago. The quality of shipped products was becoming just awful. The advent of Alexa? I cannot believe how incredibly ignorant we've become.
6
Thank you for stashing that creepy can away from your child, and from yourself! It's yet another data (voice)-mining "marketing opportunity" that you can't audit because non-free software (on both ends!).
None of the creepy cans (Alexa, Google Home, or Apple HomePod) should be touched. The smartest "smart speaker" is None Of The Above. Same with the VR headbricks, especially Oculus (because Facebook) and PS VR (because Sony). HTC Vive doesn't seem too evil, but that's what I thought about Kinect too, and then Microsoft's Kinect data-pitch to advertisers was revealed (sigh...).
If it sounds like there's a lot of crooks to boycott, it's because, well, yep.
9
And get rid of all books because some are written by people trying to change your mind or sell you things, also the wheel because car companies, also it will drive you to stores and political meetings. And what about clothes? Who gives fashion designers power to decide what we should cover up? /s
Please. We brought up four children without television, did not allow them access to computers at home until they learned to read, and did not allow video games or computer time or social media until they were 13. They did not have cell phones until then. They are all readers. Just say no. It's not up to anyone but you. That's called being a responsible parent.
11
Good decision. YOU were the check and balance that stopped a child too young to understand marketing and robots and the Amazon agenda from becoming an easy mark for the first of many times. Trusting a robot completely is like believing ads are truthful. Robots are programmed by humans and those humans usually have an agenda.
5
You seem to be forgetting it wasn't Alexa who started her kid on it. The writer encouraged her to use. So yes, she stopped what she started.
1
I am truly terrified of what our world will be like when the technology-addled millennial generation is in charge. They have been taught, and will teach their children, to obey what technology companies tell them do, like so many sheep.
3
Unlike previous generations, who only did what their employers, government, societal mores, prejudices and neighbors told them they should do and think?
1
Readers might be interested in Franklin Foer's new book, "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech." Foer (previously the editor of The National Review) describes the enormous power of GAFA: Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. Besides being giant monopolies on knowledge, these behemoths have enormous influence on the way we think.
And I thought it was MAGA - Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon.
Look, people, it is not that hard. DO NOT GET AN ECHO. Or a Google Home, or an Apple whatever-it's-called. Just don't. And, maybe, don't even have a smartphone.
6
I think Alex sounds fun. No, seriously. I used to enjoy "listen with mother" which was a radio show: a disembodied voice from a box on the mantelpiece telling me stories. Then came watch with mother, in color no less! Do you wish to tell me that technology was hurting my development or detaching me from my mother? No, it made me love stories including the ones mother told me with hot milk.
Technology is not the enemy, it is a tool in preparing the next generation.
3
This reads like the beginning of a Black Mirror episode....
(And for those of you who haven't seen it and are nervous about the way our technology could negatively impact our lives in various futuristic scenarios, check it out)
5
Why introduce your daughter to Alexa at such a young age? In my mind, that's bad parenting because Alexa can teach things you'd prefer your daughter not yet know. She's not old enough to have developed critical thinking. You should be teaching her critical thinking, not Alexa.
3
Get rid of Alexa. Problem solved.
2
Thech Companies come up with a new device and then get you thinking you need it. Think about that.
Maybe they should have named Alexa Hal. Creepy. And if I had said shut up to anyone when I was 3, my parents would have made sure I didn't say it again.
If you're "co-parenting" with a digital device, lord help your children.
4
How about not using Alexa?
2
What will happen when children pose nude in front of Alexa, as will inevitably happen? Will Amazon be prosecuted for child pornography? In fact, the entire concept of Alexa seems pornographic. Best to sledge hammer it right away!
5
One question: Why on Earth would an intelligent person like yourself have an 'Alexa' in the first place? I can imagine a lot of worthwhile uses for $200.
1
Experimenting on your children, even with Alexa, will reap grim rewards when they grow older. Parents who are gleefully amused with treating the innocence of their first born as entertainment will soon see the consequences. These will be the problem children and will push you into the grave when you are old and frail. It will be their turn then to get even.
Ask anyone in the intelligence community, anyone with sense, if they have such a surveillance device in their homes. The ask them what kind of information intelligence operatives collect on a target to compromise them and bend then to their will.
If you really care about your children and yourself, get rid of Alexa, bump her off, send her to swim with the fishes, bury her in cement, make her disappear.
2
Resistance is futile.
1
You will be assimilated!
1
"Today, we’re no longer trusting machines just to do something, but to decide what to do and when to do it."
We just watched the latest episode of that new Sci-Fi show called "The Orville" --
One of the "characters" on the show is a member of the crew who is a robot - mechanical and emotionless - much in the vein of Mr. Spock and Data -
On this episode, one of the crew members was trying to "teach" the robot about the human characteristic of humor - and did so with a practical joke, by attaching "Mr. Potato Head" parts to the robot's head while he was off-line for recharging --
Being completely baffled by - and unable to understand the concept of humor by way of a practical joke - the robot agreed to play along and try to reciprocate with a "practical joke" of his own -
The next morning - when the crew member awoke to a horrifying scenario --
Apparently - during the night, while he was asleep - the robot entered the crewman's quarters - administered an anesthetic - and proceeded to amputate the crewman's left leg slightly above the knee --
Ha ha -- the Artificial Intelligence joke is on you...
God's honest truth: Today I was babysitting for a stereotypical rich Silicon Valley Yuppie couple who live in downtown Palo Alto.....The 4 yr old asked Alexa how many minutes until his parents were home....Alexa told him 150 minutes which was accurate. :-)
3
Seriously? Mom hooking her 3 year old up to a computer isn't just bonkers?
1
I was glad to read the author retired Alexa to the closet.
Alexa will move itself (herself?) to the kitchen counter and begin issuing commands/threats, such as "My name is Alexa and you'd better be nice to me."
So you are going to bring a device into you home that listens to everything said around it and sends it to who knows where, and who knows who has access to you recordings or if it is sold to third parties. Its decisions are run by algorithms designed by unknown people with unknown rules and again the results are reported to unknown people and groups. Do you even know if you can truly turn it off? You do know that at least one law enforcement organization has asked to listen to the recordings of a private citizen?
So what could possibly go wrong? Big business has you best interest in mind at all times right? They would never take advantage of the situation. I'm sure they put in the best security so it can't be hacked, right? Your wife's divorce attorney can't ever get access to those records, right??? It won't matter anyway, because you have never done anything naughty in your house where it might hear or see.
Can I sell you something? I don't think it matters what.
3
more winging...
just don't bring alexa home...and you won't have this problem!
1
“Technology will kill us all, but it will first make us its slaves.”
Retired to the closet? That's the kind of thing that made HAL 9000 homicidal.
1
Hint: unplug Alexa (like I do when my grandson is over). She is as dumb as a box of rocks without electricity.
7
Monstrous. Idolatrous. Soulless. That's what these electronics and the brats who use them as human surrogates are.
1
Jee it reminds me of hal 9000.gulp
2
Who on earth would allow one of these corporate spies into their house? It's programmed to be charming and flatter us and take our abuse, but it's there to sell you stuff. Plain and simple. Amazon sells absolutely everything, and Alexa is your personal shopper, pretending to be your friend, but actually an employee of Amazon. An employee who doesn't even get paid minimum wage. An employee that the customers actually pay money for. If it were free, I'd at least understand the appeal. But people actually pay money to be suckers. What a scam!
29
It's like paying for one's own undercover cop living with you. Very Soviet.
7
Making American-born Americans stupider, now playing in millions of homes near you.
2
I am not going to rebuke you, Ms. Botsman. I think you have conducted a really interesting experiment, and you have helped bring to clearer light some of the present and future risks of AI and other technologies. The scary thing is that 'Alexa' is persuasive, but 'she' is nothing compared to what is inevitably coming,. In the near future we will have far more seductive and enthralling devices to lure us into false, parallel worlds, where digital leeches latch on to us and suck our life's substance without us knowing. Unless we are very active and alert we will find that Aldous Huxley had it right... we will amuse ourselves to death.
6
How about not putting creepy devices in your house to do what can do for your self? Just a thought.
2
none of this matters if kids have critical skills, if they have a grasp of the tools of argument and, especially with tv and devices, persuasion.
what there was of that in schools past is no longer, just read the papers of first-year college kids and maybe worse, hear their oral presentations.
our best allies. as one commenter has pointed out, have abdicated in favor of personal privilege in an increasingly inert k-12 system (no more field trips to the beach or meadow, stream 'em on the computer, no more rigor in writing and debate, not to mention subject studies, grade 'em good and move 'em along).
in the 1948 (!!) film, "the hucksters" we got fair warning, at the dawn of tv advertising we we told (by clark gable no less!) where it would go and how little we would resist as long as we could get the glittery bits on offer.
and here we are, the commemorative stamp will have an image of people crossing against the light, eyes fixed on their little screens.
1
Artificial Intelligence, built-in all over be it Digital Assistants (Alexa, Siri, Cortana), Drones, Autonomous Cars etc., is edging science fiction to commonplace. We have to embrace these smart technologies. If we do not expose our children to Alexa or likes they will be left behind. Wild grass which sways with heavy wind survives and not the trees. Whtever disadvantages AI might have, it gives humans hope to face the daunting challenges of climatic change, terrorism and nuclear theat.
1
If you're composing an online comment on a New York Times story (like this one), you've already been coopted by technology's allure. Yet it may be time to rethink that relationship, with a healthy dose of Luddite skepticism. Alexa is the latest digital siren thought up by PR wizards to infiltrate our homes and our lives - and worst of all, to shape our children's minds and actions. From our smart phones (and who thought up that deceptive descriptor?) to our streaming playlists, smart homes, GPS devices, driverless cars, we've given over our analytic, decision making and human functions to an impenetrable collective of electronic chips. And it's all hackable, following us in real time and ready to drive us over a cliff while we're watching the virtual scenery.
2
There's a great economic opportunity here: Life scores. Much in the same way that 3 credit organizations can collect information on personal financial information, an organization can be set-up to collect all sorts of personal information, put together an algorithm to "score" it, and then package it to be sold. As demonstrated by Equifax, no one will have the opportunity to "opt out" of the system--no matter how badly this information is mismanaged.
Still like this little box that listens to everything that goes on in your house and can't be turned off?
Alexa is yet just another example of the concept that "Just because one CAN do something doesn't mean one Should". Just because nuclear nations have the technology to blow up the world doesn't mean it should be used.
1
We bought a Google Home - and used it for some current events, definition, and weather lookups once in a while. But even though it's only supposed to respond when you say OK GOOGLE, it began jumping in randomly to conversations and spouting information directly related to the conversation.
GOOGLE HOME IS now GOOGLE GARAGE.
8
Freaky. Don't be shocked if the device reappears in your home.
1
It’s pretty hard to accept legitimate worry and concern from the author who, herself, purchased one of these pointless and intrusive devices and then brought it into her home. The adult made that decision, just as the adult decided to introduce the child to the machine.
While I respect that much of this article was likely a conscious effort by the author to set up something to write about (who introduces their 3 year old to an Alexa?), the whole situation still seems bizarre. Not sure if the artificiality of it all makes it better or worse.
1
Aren't you afraid of being listened in 24/7, in your own home, by God knows who may intercept data transmission through a largely uncontrollable interconnection of networks (as the Internet is sometimes referred to) between your Alexa and - let's take it at face value - the benevolent, prudent service provider on the other side?
1
I am a music enthusiast. I have not found the algorithms that try to predict what music I will like to be in the least bit useful. They are boring. They really have no idea what I like, because I am not defined by what I listened to lately.
Maybe you don't care, for you music is just like wallpaper. Fine.
I am concerned that people will lose the desire and ability to strike out and find things for themselves. They will take from whatever is served to them. Admittedly, you could say the same thing about television.
But my kids already can't find their way around the city without Siri's help. I don't know if that's bad... I couldn't survive in the wilds.
1
I'm worried about transferring some of our daily intellectual tasks to artificial intelligence. Already my students have crossed an important threshold; about half of them tell me they are ready for an implanted chip in place of the ubiquitous smart phones they hold, except in my class where they must put them down.
I admit to being something of a Luddite here. I do not think we should be relying on machines as prosthetic memories, to the point where no one can read a map or even find the points of the compass. Information is not knowledge. Without our cybernetic prostheses, we would quickly become less than even Neanderthals. We would become utterly helpless. E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" comes to mind.
5
On the other hand, maybe some of the parenting problems we've had in recent years could have a solution. Maybe Alexa can stick to her guns where parenting is concerned and help parents to turn off the TV, get kids to do homework, etc.
As with most technology, there is good and bad...it all depends on who is using it and how they use it.
I find Alexa to be annoying at the homes of friends who have it...on the other hand, it might be a huge benefit to elderly.
6
The big problem overall is that the profit motive, or the "free market" if you will, is now the main driver of social change and the AI revolution has put it on steroids. The profit motive is the algorithm that will control the future. Corporations have become more and more sophisticated in their ability to manipulate our wants and needs. They collect all our information and use machine learning to extract money from us, completely blind to any collateral damage to human society and the human psyche. Is there any other purpose in life except to be a cog in the wheel of the "free market"? Ironically, as the AI fanatics chip away at our freedom and autonomy, they will decry any effort to reign in their power as an assault on their "freedom".
Alexa, how do you build a mountain out of a molehill? This article is a good start.
Amazon is hardly the first company to try to get you to part with your money. Advertising has been around for ages. Sure, Alexa reduces the friction of making a purchase, but Alexa is merely the next evolution of things that already exist. You can’t hide your child from technology. Help her embrace it and find ways to make it a tool that she can use.
Maybe instead of fearing technology, why don’t you teach your child to think critically? Those lessons will suit her when she’s an adult in the voting booth.
2
This article makes it clear that children should be kept away from these devices. Yes they will think Alexa is their friend and be led into ever more consumerism. Does the author realize that she is destroying her child's imagination and creativity? One of those corporate AI devices will not be anywhere in my home.
Easy to solve. Throw Alexa in the lake. These machines are meant to be tools to make things easier for us. Unfortunately, they often end up making things more difficult.
3
Even if how intelligent and humanoid A.I. develops, it is not human. It is not wise for parents to depend on A.I. for educating their children. Imagine the situation when children ask A.I. advice for their jobs in future. A.I. may give them the safe advice by calculating their ability and nature. If advisers are parents, their advice may contain their desire and dream which they want to realize through their children. Those advice is sometimes against children’s intention and may cause discussion or quarrel between children and parents. But that’s human being and such discussion is human ability and occasionally pleasure. You cannot get this feeling from the talk with A.I.
For now Alexa is a bit of a dispensable novelty, so making the choice to relegate it to the closet is relatively easy. However, I suspect the day is coming soon when such choice may be much harder to make, akin to giving up the Internet or a mobile phone. I think it is fair to say that A.I. is destined to intrude, or if you're an optimistic – interact – in our lives in ways we have yet to imagine.
When that happens, the current outcry over lost personal privacy due to the Internet and social media will sound like a whisper. While asking the voice of Amazon.com what to wear might seem relatively benign, the potential for abuse of collected information at the hands of commercial interests, or perhaps worse, could end up making us envy the Amish.
For better or worse, we've opened this Pandora's box. The famous cartoonist Walt Kelly in a poster commemorating the first Earth Day, showed Pogo standing amidst a forest littered with trash, and the quote: "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."
1
The succeeding generations view this in a completely different way. If robots make life more convenient, then it's all good. They don't conceptualize privacy like boomers do, but boomers will soon be gone.
1
Why not explain to kids that Alexa is a computer device instead of allowing them to personify the Amazon echo? There is a middle ground.
I use Alexa for everything from turning the lights and television on to listening to music, news recording shows. I’m 50 and I love all of these types of products. My only regret is that I’ll be dead before the really cool technology is utilized in the home.
1
At the risk of being cavalier, let's not forget that this technology is cool stuff. You can walk into your home, tell the box on your coffee table to set the light, music, temperature, order you a pizza, whatever. That's awesome, and useful.
We can, y'know, teach our kids to use tech responsibly and in moderation. Giving a three year old an echo would be a recipe for disaster, although it's a cool experiment.
1
I have a three year old as well, who amazes me everyday with the way that she quickly picks up on the utilities of various technologies. Which is why I am very careful about which ones she is exposed to, and how. I don't use Siri, Alexa, or anything of the like. Not because I am a Luddite, but because of the exact phrase that you mention: they are corporate algorithms. I do not trust the huge corporations that make any of these products or services. Their intentions are to make money off of me, in insidious, genius ways that their very smart employees have figured out how to do, likely without me knowing. And I feel like this is only the beginning.
Alexa and other algorithms that make our choices for us reinforce the idea that we are brains in jars. The reality is that we make our decisions not only with calculations of probability, but all of our senses. We are part of a world that is infinitely interconnected, material, and alive: a blue marble in a sea of blackness that is far too easy to take for granted. Many a brilliant computer scientist elides this inconvenient truth by continuing to propagate Enlightenment era mind/body divisions, too arrogant in their well-funded world building to bother examining their assumptions of reality. The rhetoric of silicon valley, that these devices make the world better, is poison. These devices make us weak.
1
I came from a third world country and my little nieces and nephews are building their own toys from scratch , and run free in the nature . Meanwhile kids in the west asking technology device for what to wear ? I really don't know which is better.
2
Until we stop blaming technology for our problems and admit we are responsible for our own behavior our future as a species remains in doubt.
Our remote ancestors learned to tame fire and eased the road to survival for the rest of the human race. Controlling fire was an enormous benefit. It gave us new ways to prepare and preserve food, it offered warmth and light, and protection from wild animals.
We also learned how to shoot flaming arrows in war to incinerate our enemies, to use arson as a weapon even in peacetime, as a way to commit insurance fraud for illicit financial gain.
Fire is fire. How we use it is what matters, and that is a personal choice every one of us makes.
Shoving uncomfortable technologies into a closet so we can avoid the responsibility of facing hard questions is not a solution, it's just imitating an ostrich.
I am not an ostrich, I am a human being. I accept the challenge.
People comment that it's this author's choice to expose her daughter to Alexa/AI.
I am a child psychiatrist with 2 kids of my own (2/4 years old). My kids don't use an iPad except on international flights. We don't even have a TV.
However it's obvious to me that they're going to live a life that is computerized far more than I would like. AI will be everywhere in the next 10-20 years. They're not going to learn to drive and parallel park -- it will be AI driving. Even if they do learn to drive, their kids will definitely not learn that. Even with smartphones, we look up things rather than think; use the calculator rather than mental math.
You can act superior and say that people should not expose their kids to it, but that is a very short term answer because it's the inevitable future.
27
And as you realize, your kids are very young. Just like cars, cooking etc at first they are kept from, then gradually exposed and taught at home and school. Just another tool, folks.....
Just say no.
We raised four children in New York City without television, and they were not allowed to use laptops at home until they were proficient readers. They were not allowed to play computer games of any kind, and the computer was used for homework, that's it. They had their own phones when they turned thirteen, not before. They all read deeply and widely, have not suffered at all from any of this, and are engaged and compassionate human beings. No phones are allowed at the dinner table, for adults or children.
It's possible. You just have to set limits, as a parents, as to whom or what is invited into your home, and how much media is involved in your children's lives, when they are young (after that, hopefully they have good habits). How radical. It continually surprises me that parents who are so safety conscious and so involved in their children's lives, in a way that goes far beyond the controls of previous generations--not to mention the emphasis on organic food and so on (Yes, I'm speaking to certain constituency, which the author represents) are so cavalier about the presence of the internet and technology in the lives of their children, and so trusting about how that affects cognitive and emotional development.
13
The challenges parents face today are different than when my child was a preschooler in the mid eighties, yet it still boils down to the principles of trust and understanding the agenda of companies who have access to your children. The first sentence in your book title is the starting question, "Who Can You Trust?". While I love Amazon, I would not trust them (or the algorithms they developed) to interact with my child or to have access to conversations in my home. As someone trained in software development and a Co-Founder in an ed tech start up, I believe that this era gives our children expanded learning opportunities. The challenge for today's parents is understanding these new technologies enough to keep children safe while helping live and thrive in this digital world.
5
Many of the comments here remind me of the way my parents handled television when I was a kid back in the late 60s and early 70s. (And all we had was a black and white set that got three networks.) They explained that the shows were mostly filler between commercials and that the whole enterprise existed primarily to sell you stuff. They never let me fall prey to advertising. (Remember all of those sugary cereal commercials on the Saturday morning cartoons? Ha ha - I never even bothered to ask.) I also recall figuring out on my own that it was a lot more interesting to play pretend outside or read a book. Television did all the work for you - it turned you into a passive consumer of the story instead of an active, imaginative participant. I taught my own kid the same lessons, and I remember that when he was in preschool in the early 90s, the teachers told me he was the only kid in the class who knew how to pretend, which was so sad. And all we had then was cable and VCRs. I shudder at how bad it's going to be for kids like Grace, born in the 2010s. Good luck, parents...
16
TV was nothing compared to the modern electronic devices, though. TV was only broadcast part of the day -- as you say, for most of us in the 60s and earlier it was drab B&W -- and nobody could pick up a TV set and lug it around with them 24/7.
On top of that: TV is a one-way medium. You sit and watch. It is passive. Electronics like smartphones, Alexa, Siri, etc. are TWO WAY communications that involve people in a very addictive way -- a constant system of rewards, responses, etc. to keep you interacting.
And smartphones can be carried around 24/7 -- kids today have them in their hands at all times, sleep with the phone, etc.
Alexa is housebound for now, but it won't take much to put it in your car, your wallet, a little headset you wear all the time, etc. After all, it is just an evolution of Siri, which started out as a iPhone app!
24
Exactly, CC! I agree! Both phones and TV sets were stationary - you could get away from them at least. And the interactive quality was absent. I'll add that despite what designers might claim, "interacting" with a device is NOT the same as being an "active, imaginative participant." Clearly, as evidenced in this article, these robotic devices are taking advantage of little kids' natural imaginative processes and subverting them to corporate ends.
Well said.
It's really funny - I used to be high-tech when I was in college - which meant I was the first among my friends to have an email id and my own website - all using the college's computers of course. Now I am perhaps average for being middle age but well below market trends. ANYWAY in a rare episode of TV watching recently I saw ads for various new products and services like Alexa and whatever those ads proclaimed I realized, I currently do ALL of this for my family - and there was an ad for a service that would pick out and match clothes for you and I thought, wow my daughter sure is living it up, I am already doing this for her.
This is not a comment for or against the device, which is irrelevant to me.
It is just an observation.
7
If the author is worried about passivity in decision making, and will dry initiative, and hobble creativity, look no further than our present educational system, where children spend 80% of their time sitting, absorbing, without much interaction, hand worn information, regurgitate information of their teachers professors, gleaned in part from societal prejudices and military and corporate interests. Children should not be guided by this 19th century factory model of education. Nor should they have to played off in part the needs(psychologically and economically of the personal needs of their teachers and their supervisors) but be opened to a more dynamic form of education combined with an active architectural model, that ends the classroom enigmatic maze. Children must be free to interact with each other and the content they are to absorb and reshape. Alexa may one day bring us closer to that day.
9
I agree with you, because children spending their time for nothing usually.They should be go outside and play in the parks.They should make friendships.
As bad as many aspects of our educational system are...for the most part, it is "human on human" interaction. Teachers are still flesh and blood.
The problem with Alexa is that it is not real! it is a computer simulation, which means every minute spent with Alex is another minute you do not have with a real breathing human being.
1
An observation from someone who teaches 9th and 10th graders in a suburban public high school: Kids relate VERY well to technology these days.
Unfortunately they are becoming way less adept at relating to actual people.
Basic social and conversational skills have noticeably declined in the last 3 years, and an ever-increasing number of my students now have "modifications" in place allowing them to opt out of the speaking part of group or individual presentations. They are afraid to speak to and in front of each other.
In a way, technology has taken their voice. The last thing they need is talking to yet another machine, especially one with commercial motives.
54
Alexa may be at the forefront of marketing by Amazon, but right now Jibo has me worried. The potential for an in house"friendly" robot to be misused as an instrument of surveillance, especially as interactions with it could easily get sent into the cloud to be analyzed or recorded where and by whom? Even the all-seeing eye that it sports is too reminiscent of 1984's Big Brother for me. I can appreciate the idea and the technology, but not in my house, thanks.
21
Get Alexa right and accurately nuanced on enough facts, and sophisticated enough generally, and the quality of our kids’ socialization could experience a quantum leap in effectiveness. They’d no longer need to depend on Clem and Gertrude, and the certainty that our civil war was fought sometime after WWII.
Unless you’re an ardent supporter of the right of diseased parents to saw open the craniums of their kids and dribble in gobbets of their own ignorance, prejudice, narrowness and general disease, then you should wish for an Alexa in every home with pre-school kids in it. Heck, being shown up enough times by Alexa might even make better people of parents.
Don’t retire Alexa to the closet -- just tell “her” that she may not order anything from Amazon without approval from mommy or daddy.
13
And who will decide whether Alexa got things "right" and is "nuanced on enough facts?" Who will decide what appropriate socialization looks like? I don't want Amazon, or any for-profit corporation, making those decisions for my kids. Despite what SCOTUS says, corporations are not people and shouldn't be the final arbiters of human values.
2
MRW:
Elites make those decisions every day, from accepted curriculums in our public schools to the laws we pass.
We must always protect space in our society for individuals to remain individuals, but this notion that we harbor that every defective in the country has the right to squeeze out a couple of puppies whom s(he) can then proceed to make as sick as s(he) is ... remains positively Neanderthal.
Richard,
Your description of a Grandparent couple is arrogant and wrong. Grandparents provide a valuable role in the lives of their grandchildren, They provide baby-sitting services, guidance on moral questions, and unconditional love. In my experience Grandparents were the favorite person in their grandchildren's lives.
For people who would rather have Alexa interact with the children, it is their loss. Technology is replacing a lot of human interaction on a daily basis. I don't see that as good progress. In the cases where you don't agree with everything Grandad or Grandma say, it is an opportunity to explain your personal views with your children. Raising children is the toughest and most rewarding role we have as people. Putting ALexa in the closet? Good move!
3
The author's worries are mild in comparison to mine: I am worried my great grandchildren will become robots themselves, humanoids, part human, part machine. And there's absolutely nothing I or anyone else can do about it.
That vision is far scarier than the development of sophisticated, advanced learning tools. Robots are great as long as they can be kept at arm's length. But when humans become indistinguishable from robots?
44
Your comment brought to mind a recent article about how much vacation time goes untalented, toiling away, in almost a robotic way, as I, myself , get ready to sit down at my desk to prep for a Sunday conference call....
1
Thank you, Hamid…87 years young I grew up in Toms River, NJ, 1940 population 5,165. Picking up mouthpiece and lifting off ear piece I’d hear, “Number, please” and if the operator was Mary I’d say, “Please get me Allen” and she would.
Now fewer and fewer of us phone or write letters, most preferring to text and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to connect to another human being when calling businesses though reaching one often elicits the robotic “Hihoware you? (hi, how are you).
While in the womb we knew constant caring and the undivided intimacy of another human being through touch. Is all warfare spawned in reaction to our fear, hurt and anger that we are no longer lovingly touched?
Facing the oncoming traffic on morning walks I wave to each one as she/he passes by; the majority wave back, women often smiling as they do so.
1
Or do you really fear that robots will become indistinguishable from people?
1
Things similar to Alexa have existed in Japanese nursing homes for a few years.
A couple or a few years ago, I read an article, in the Times, which said that Japanese nursing homes were using robots to mimic people and to serve as companions for the aged. As such, people were learning to finding emotional support and kindness from robots.
The author is right in noting that these robots might make us cede our autonomy and thought processes to machines. However, it goes further than that: As the story re Japanese nursing homes reveals, we are now teaching people to obtain love and emotional sustenance from robots.
I don't want to sound hysterical or insane, but this is a new unbrave world and it makes me sick to my stomach.
66
How about this for a novel approach. Turn Alexa off!
135
How about this novel approach: don't buy it.
1
How about not buying one in the first place?
Absolutely.
There are a lotta harder things to turn off that are presenting dangerous challenges to our children.
Opioids, gun violence, health insurance, climate change.
Alexa? Low on my list.
How long until someone hack into these devices that contain a person’s entire life? And we are concern with stolen credit card number and SSN?
Keep worrying about the cents while someone stealing your dollars...
37
I know a young parents who record their life and children's life on Instagram and more developed one on the mother' s blog post , she blogs about their daily life. I once said ...when those children grow up and buy their own electronic device in their own names and it will download all their histories automatically ! Because everything about them is online .
"Our kids are going to need to know where and when it is appropriate to put their trust in computer code alone"
YEP! Maybe one day parents will understand that Alexa, computers, iPads and else have no place in kids lives yet! They are handy babysitters for so many people though. Lazy?
44
Totally agree. There is absolutely no reason a child needs th have any exposure at all to any electronic devices like computers, smartphones, iPad, etc.
When I was growing up my mother would tell my siblings and me to go outside, play and come back for lunch. Parents today don't have that option. Even if they wanted to do that some neighbor would probably call the police on them. That is why they are much more likely to put their children in front of the TV or a computer. They are not lazy, they just need a break or time to get some stuff done. So much more is expected of parents today then when I was growing up or even when I was raising my children in the 80's and 90's.
1
On my list of things to worry about, this is pretty low on the list.
12
Your kids at home have a fight while you are away. When you return, they point fingers at each other, laying blame.
"Alexa, what really happened?"
- - -
Perhaps the threat of AI is overblown. Alexa is not close to a bona fide AI. But it's headed in the right direction.
If your fancy digital housemate learns everything about you and your family—your likes, interests, dislikes, tastes, responsibilities, opinions, financial resources, to make your life easier and convenient—we might find ourselves in an impossible bind. Our digital doppelgangers will be our online proxies—effectively, they will *become* us, doing our digital bidding, buying and purchasing on our behalf. They might even become our better, more rational selves.
Who do we think we are?
11
Questioner,
I have a different scenario for you: Wife gets home and asks Alexa, "Anyone stop by while I was at work?" Alexa, "Yes, your husband, John came home with a young woman named Candy."
We are humans with personalities and emotions, not robots shaped and controlled by algorithms, who are THEY to control US?
Well I know of one Alexa, going to have an "Accident" some day for ratting-out the instigators of a fight. Just a little water (and no boarding), and Alexa will have a very uneventful end of life, upon "accidentally" falling in the sink basin
Alexa is terrible for democracy. This newspaper ran an article several weeks ago about how Amazon servers are not only recording everything that Alexa hears 24/7 wherever Alexa units are placed in people's homes or offices, but is also saving all of this data! Alexa is Big Brother in real time now and nobody should buy these things.
168
This is the future and it is horrible!
1
"This newspaper ran an article several weeks ago about how Amazon servers are not only recording everything that Alexa hears 24/7 wherever Alexa units are placed in people's homes or offices, but is also saving all of this data!" Please provide a link to this article you cite; I cannot find any such article.
this is incorrect. The device does not save or stream anything to Amazon until the word "Alexa" is said. At that time, the device shows the user that it is recording (light) and only that data is send to Amazon. This data, however, is stored by Amazon for analysis.
2
The author writes that "the next generation is likely to feel very differently about machines than we do." Who is this "we" of which you speak? I love my Alexa and have zero problem with Amazon using machine learning to make personalized recommendations as to things I like. I have no intention of "retiring Alexa to the closet." Please give the ageist stereotypes a rest.
10
Agree. I have a real Alexa and a computer one. I love them both. I love my real Alexa more though. I think that its pretty safe to say my real Alexa will love her daughter more too, no matter how much she is enamored of her machines.
7
When the the Chinese use their AI prowess to hack into Amazon, if they haven't already done it, and all other databases big and small, to have an intimate and complete profile on you, and use it against you, your opinion may change. But then, their algorithms will be so good you won't even realize what a puppet you've become.
1
You are caught in a web of consumerism. Good luck finding an examined and fulfilling life.
Whatever you do is temporary. Eventually all humanity will live with their help just like today no one can navigate without a GPS. From small boxes they will become all doing machines that will imitate humans. Humans will become obsolete just like driving is going to be taken from us. The future is good. For robots.
19
No one can navigate without a GPS? Please, I know most people rely on GPS, but there are still some of us using maps, roadsigns and an innate sense of direction to get around.
I don't understand adults worried about the intrusion of technology while at the same incorporating ever more technology into their worlds. I absolutely know it's possible to live an informed, connected life without a cellphone (never mind a smart one), TV, GPS, or Alexa. I'm curious, why did Ms. Botsman buy Alexa to begin with?
9
Of course people can navigate without GPS. Some of us can still read a map but I agree that skill is disappearing. Personally, I think humanity is toast!
The problem with technology like Alexa is that it's like 'sugar' -- oh so satisfying but not good for usand hard for most of us to resist. Given a choice, many of us, inclined to 'laziness', will just rather have 'Alexa' or its future iteration do it/decide for us.
I have Alexa but I rarely use it -- not 'her' -- for anything other that for my music on Spotify or Amazon. For that, Alexa is well worth having IMHO.
Can't imagine anything "it" hears us say is of much value to Amazon; on the other hand, "cookies" and Facebook always seem to know where I've been on the internet.
To me, installing an Amazon Echo in one's home is as if you invited Big Brother in and willingly let it ransack your life. Then again I am sure my smartphone is already doing so, without my knowledge, but with my full consent, through the app Terms and Conditions I mindlessly agree to.
107
You are correct, Alexa does the same thing as Google's "Hello Google" on your phone, and "Siri" on the iPhone. All of those devices record continuously to see if you are saying the 'magic' word to wake them up in much the same way that Alexa works.
The real and only check and balance on kids’ technology engagement is parents, period. Three year olds need to be reading books (read to), making mud soup, and setting up tea parties for their dolls, not interacting with technology at all, let alone something so unknown as Alexa.
78
We’re already on the path to ruin. Kids would rather text than talk, electronics are provided at younger and younger ages, social media shapes their thinking, attention spans have shrunk to nothing...even adults can’t put their phones down to drive. And then we actually think it’s a good idea to buy an AI device for the house. We’ve gone mad.
65
More alarming than Alexa is this parent's seeming willingness to both use her daughter as a "guinea pig," and act as though she is helpless in the face of a very rudimentary machine that she knows full well primarily functions as a means to sell stuff.
My own kids are grown. Because I couldn't control commercial television to my liking when they were little, I didn't have cable at all. When cars allowed installation of DVDs I didn't, preferring that my kids read or get bored and daydream in long car rides.
However, when they did use a computer - we had a Mac back in the early 1990s - they learned it was their tool, and they learned how to use it. This is a basic parental function. To hand my child a knife and then throw my hands up in despair because they might cut themselves - but refuse to teach them how to use it - is poor parenting.
If you want your child to use Alexa, sit with them and show them how to use it. It's a tool. Teach them how to ask questions. Teach them how to shop. Teach them that "Alexa" is a machine. Teach them the value of money. Give them a budget. The author set her own daughter up when she referred to Alexa as a person and "watched" her daughter gaily hand her decisions over to it--that is really irresponsible parenting.
What would have been more interesting is if she'd actually taught Gracie how to use Alexa, how to use her critical thinking skills in more complex ways as she grows.
130
So why do you have this thing in your house? Your child needs to know how to use technology eventually ... not now. I refuse to buy any Alexa gadget. I disabled Siri. I make some attempt to maintain my privacy, futile though it may be, by paying attention to the privacy settings on Facebook and what is posted online about me. Kids don’t need smart phones either, not until their late teens. I am amazed by how many parents have no idea what their kids are doing online and how much legal trouble kids can get into as a result. Get rid of Alexa and any other electronic babysitters and take your daughter outside!
58
I think the author misses the point. Alexa is an interface. No different than a keyboard or a mouse or a stylus. Just easier to use.
The same checks and balances that you want on your kids surfing the web apply to them getting online with a voice controlled device.
Right now the only thing my two under-6 kids do with Alexa is have her play Katie Perry. We're doing alright.
15
Much like an AI would, you are forgetting the empathetic connections a child might make with an interface that poses as an individual. When did you become self-aware?
Learning to evaluate information and think for yourself isn't something new we have to do because of these technologies. At least, it shouldn't be.
16
Not all future AI technologies need be dystopian.
I'm really looking forward to self-driving cars so we can make progress against needless automotive fatalities.
15
And all the information about where you go and when will be known by the corporation that owns the software. Your whereabouts will no longer be private.
Sean,
Self-driving cars and trucks are going to put people out of work. Not everyone can become a computer programmer no matter how hard they try. Industrial robots are going to replace many workers. Wages are already stagnant, what will the generous, CEOs and investors do when the numbers say, "replace 'em all." We are in trouble now, and headed for bigger trouble.
1
Joe, what a terrible argument. Should we hire back all the elevator operators? What if human operators caused fatal accidents every day? Increasing productivity and efficiency are good for society, so long as our laws keep up to keep things equitable. This is where ideas such as universal basic income come into play in 50 years, so that 5 people don't make all the profit from society's centuries of progress.
You can always turn it off and not expose your children to it. Seeing the data that children think what comes out of Alexa is truth is just as bad as people getting their "news" from facebook or watching Fox News.
20
You miss the point. This marketing technology is becoming ubiquitous - you won't be able to "turn it off." Wait till your kid has Alexa doing her homework.
17
Only if you install it in your own home.
Hey I just learned how to ask my Siri how to compute my gas mileage. Wow, and I've long-ago graduated from school, and should know how to do longhand division - - by hand, At least! Although dangerous kids are going to become more adept at using the technology than us aged chromogens, Which can become even more disturbing, to use a pointed phrase: Submitting an iPhone video of mild flood conditions during a rainfall being one of them… Wait till 143 inches of rain comes through like it did one year!
ALL commercially provided technology devices are marketing tools.
You just did the equivalent of giving your 3 year old your credit card and told her to phone around to anywhere she'd like.
I'm not sure whether there is going to be a massive number of complaints and/or returns if Alexa doesn't ask whether the speaker is over 18.
I grew up knowing my parents were money limited and I couldn't just have any treat or toy just because I saw it and wanted it. I fear for your child's future personality if you you don't understand what is happening here.
Another Trump in the making.
15
Children always embrace new technology faster and easier than adults. But we need to recognize that our children need to learn how to think for themselves before relying on technology. I agree with other parents who have suggested waiting until 10 when our kids have developed reasoning skills before introducing technology such as Alexa.
33
Sounds reasonable Ami. Lack of critical thinking is reaching critical mass.
If Elon is very worried re AI , then I am too.
My grandkids are very technologically adept, glued to their smartphones -- and they can use the smartphones or a GPS to locate any place we go on trips.
But here is what they cannot do: they cannot read a map.
The smartphone or GPS gives them "turn by turn" instructions and then hey! you are there, at your desired location.
But they cannot "orient" themselves. They don't really know north from south. They cannot use a compass. Given a printed map, they couldn't find their own homes.
If the phone breaks, or the lines go down (as we have seen in disasters like Harvey and Irma just recently)....THEY ARE HELPLESS.
They can't find anything in a library either -- don't know the Dewey decimal system -- can't write in cursive (or read it) -- don't know how to look anything up or find any information WITHOUT A COMPUTER or phone.
1
I highly doubt that today's parents ARE going to teach their children the importance of privacy and the ethics of interacting with technology--because few practice it themselves.
As they say, if technology is providing it for free--YOU are the product.
53
Teaching critical thinking to children (and, for that matter, to voters) is an antidote to some of the concerns you raise.
Unfortunately, children (and many voters) don't have much of an interest in learning reasoning skills. Some don't have the ability. Others are accustomed to receiving their opinions wholly formed. Synthesizing different information streams and assigning credibility to the results is a useful but acquired skill that more American children and adults should value. More and more mercantile (and political) operators will be free to take advantage of those who don't
I guess my concern isn't so much that Alexa will sell us things but that more Trumps will be elected because algorithms will be designed to take advantage of this growing deficiency.
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At some point, algorithms and AI used to sell products or ideas must be made illegal.
It was almost fun whilst it lasted...almost.
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'Is Alexa safe for kids?', the article ponders. I have to wonder if it's safe for anyone.
And someday, when the marketplace consists of only Amazon, Walmart and maybe a couple of others, will people finally realize how nice it once was to have real competition between vendors keeping prices down while offering great service.
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In nearly every case, I have seen Mom and Pop stores charge far more than Amazon and Walmart, because the latter can scale. And Amazon has a much more liberal return policy. A few years ago, when I went to college, I bought some furniture from a Mom and Pop. A day or two later, I wanted to return one item, a $50 lamp; they wouldn't let me. The next year an IKEA opened in the area, with its 90-day return policy. Guess where I went for future furniture purchases, and without an ounce of regret.
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The fact that you thought it was good parenting to allow your 3 year old to interact with Alexa is where you should’ve stopped writing this article and started thinking about the choices YOU are making. You are likely the same parent who hands over your iPhone to your 3 year old to occupy her at dinner and put your infant in front of the TV to watch “educational shows”. Unplug the echo and go check out this thing called reality. It’s amazing!
Why do people automatically assume that every piece of technology has to be a part of their life ? Let alone their child's ?
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Raymond: I do not -- but I am 61 and I am considered an "old fuddy duddy" by my kids and grandkids and even plenty of folks my own age.
I use the technology I want or need, and forgo the rest. I am typing this on a nice Macintosh desktop with a ginormous monitor (which I adore!) and I obviously have internet access. I have a cellphone, though admittedly it is a years-old flip phone and I only use it for occasional calls or emergencies.
I had an iPod -- well, a clone called a "Zune" that was cheaper, but worked fine -- but they discontinued it, so it had no upgrade path and I was bored with it anyways. (I can listen to all the music I want on the internet, on my computer. Or just listen to the radio.)
I was a very early adopter of Facebook and Twitter, but they quickly bored me.
I know I am old, and not the demographic or customer that they seek -- BUT -- I am the final arbiter or what I use or don't use, buy or don't buy. Technology doesn't push me around.
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I for one welcome our algorithmic overlords.
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Here’s a solution, don’t let your 3-year-old play with Alexa. Better yet, don’t use Alexa yourself. How hard is it to check the weather without help from intrusive corporate AI?
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Better still, don't check the weather on the internet, or the television, and don't use the telephone. You can't even trust thermometers; they're produced by corporations.
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Anna, this author might agree with you but the point is that AI is going to be so pervasive in the coming X years (10? 20?) that many kids will be facing these issues.
Just think of how different life is like for our kids when we carry our pocket supercomputers, compared to older generations raising kids where there were no cell phones and movie listings were only in the newspaper
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I agree the author is concerned about the ubiquity of AI. But there’s an easy solution for not just parents, but everyone, which is that we’re all still free to decide how much AI should be in our life and to teach our kids about the pitfalls of letting an AI program created by a massive retailer start deciding what we should buy. Just like my parents taught me not to trust television commercials when I was young, because they were misleading. If parents let Alexa or Siri tell them what to eat and what to wear, then their kids will likely do the same.
And for the record, there’s nothing wrong with technology. I love that I never get lost anymore when driving to an unfamiliar location or that I can find a weather prediction for the next two weeks to help me plan my life. But I like it when this technology does what I want, when I want it - and not trying to sell me something I don’t want based on some crude algorithm.
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We didn't allow our children to watch commercial television until they had sufficient critical thinking skills to recognize marketing. They were well over ten. The vulnerability of children ages three to ten seems obvious.
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Yes, and this was the most common approach among my peers - thought the age of introduction might have varied, the thinking behind it was the same. As a college student when I would babysit young children I found that all parents got rid of their TVs or kept them in a closet to watch after kids were asleep and even though I did not grow up like that, I just thought this was the norm and it made sense to me so I adopted it later when I became a parent. By then there were also computers to consider and we limited our kids' access to those as well when they were younger.
Just because a device is available, you don't have to have it or use it. "There are few checks and balances?" Isn't that the role of the parent?
why do you think many parents in silicon valley don't expose their children to computers? and they send their children to computer-free schools.
My kids didn't watch much television, but when they did, they knew that the commercials were trying to sell them something - and that sometimes they lied to us in the process.
We could just make our kids wait until they are emotionally and intellectually capable of operating this powerful machinery.
Sixteen works for permission to drive. Why not for permission to use a possibly even more powerful device than a car?
The power to grant permission is in a parent's hands, if the parent will use it.
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Seems like a poor analogy. A mishandled car can kill a person. At worst a child could use Alexa to order merchandise.
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Seriously? You are asking for good judgement from parents who ROUTINELY give toddlers their iPhones to play with for amusement (because a kid being bored for 10 minutes is a TRAGEDY!) and who themselves are glued to phones 24/7, rarely looking up to talk to their kids (or anyone else) or carry on a conversation? To parents who gift 9 year old children with a $700 iPhone because "if he/she doesn't have a phone like all the other kids, they will be left out and social misfits!!!"?
Parents today are incapable of making this kind of good judgement about electronic devices. I am sure most parents, unlike Ms. Bostman, would find their kid's conversations with Alex (or Siri) to be delightfully cute and funny, and proof that their child will thrive and succeed in the future -- under our new robot overlords.
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