Should we teach our children to treat smart speakers with politeness?
For users, smart speakers are no stranger and far away. As of February 2018, 20% of U.S. homes equipped with wifi have at least one smart speaker, a figure that has doubled from six months ago. According to a report published by Strategy Analytics, shipments of smart speakers worldwide reached 9.2 million units in the first quarter of 2018, which is nearly four times that of 2.4 million units in the same period in 2017.
In the United States, smart speaker coverage is steadily rising (Source: Statista)
As smart speakers walk into more and more people's homes, worries are born, and parents with children at home are more worried than others. In addition to worrying about privacy being compromised by smart speakers, parents are also worried about the unknown effects that smart devices will have on children, especially when they hear children make simple, rough orders to smart speakers. Regardless of how vocal the children's voices were, the gentle adult in the speaker would not refuse their request, but this left the parents at the side to be offended.
A report published by Childwise, a non-profit children’s research institution in the United Kingdom, earlier this year stated that children use fewer courtesy phrases such as “please” and “thank you” for dialogue with smart speakers. The report reminds parents and teachers that they should pay attention to this phenomenon, because smart speakers are gradually becoming mainstream devices, but children may not have the ability to distinguish the difference between anthropomorphic devices and real people. They may confuse the two and use the same communication methods to deal with machines and people.
The head of the research, Simon Leggett, expressed his worries: “After getting used to the dialogue with the smart speakers, will they use the same attitude towards teachers and shop assistants?” This may be awkward, but who not sure. After all, no one generation had ever grown up with artificial intelligence so intensively surrounded.
As the center of the vortex, two large companies, Google and Amazon, have already taken actions to add new features to smart speakers and cultivate children's habits of using polite language to prevent parents' concerns from becoming a reality. According to Strategy Analytics, the two market share in the smart speaker market reached 26.5% and 43.6% respectively.
In April of this year, Amazon released a special version of the smart speaker Echo Dot for children. In addition to the eye-catching, vibrant shell, Echo Dot also includes content that suits children's listening, parental controls, and features that encourage children to use polite expressions.
After consulting a child development expert, Amazon decided to design Magic Word as a positive enhancement. For example, when a child uses “please” or “thank you,” Echo’s voice assistant Alexa responds “You are welcome” or “Thank you for your polite inquiry.” However, if the child does not use polite language, Alexa will still provide the information requested by the child and will not show reproaches.
Amazon's children's special speaker Echo Dot (Source: Amazon's official website)
At the I/O conference in May, Google announced a new feature called Pretty Please. This feature is very similar to Magic Word and can be used on Google Smart Home and other third-party devices that support Google Assistant. Pretty Please also takes a positive reinforcement approach, but it goes one step further than Magic Word. Parents can change the settings. When children issue instructions in impolite tone, it responds “Please use that magic word!”
Pretty Please is selective. Parents can set the Pretty Please feature for a child at home. The smart speaker will recognize the child's voice and urge the child to use a more friendly tone during the conversation. This feature is expected to be launched this summer.
However, these polite guidance features still cause controversy and concern. An article on the Fast Company questioned that teaching children to learn politeness through smart speakers will further aggravate children’s cognitive confusion. The author Mike Elgan believes that courtesy is a reflection of empathy and respect in interpersonal relationships. The act of asking children to be polite about lifeless smart speakers suggests that artificial intelligence has similar emotions to humans and that humans need to take care of its emotions.
Taking a step back, courtesy of the machine is also undermining the meaning of politeness itself. After knowing that the machine in front of me has no emotion, I still say "Thank you." Does this thank you also have sincere gratitude? Or is it just a form of going through the field?
Elgan said that it is more important than teaching children to use polite expressions for smart speakers by teaching them to see the boundaries between reality and imitation. The first step is to put the artificial intelligence device in the same category as the oven and television, rather than in the same category as mom and dad.
In this regard, however, adults may be even less adept than children—only the human voice in a smart speaker gives them the illusion of dialogue. In contrast, Google Web Search uses exactly the same database as Google Assistant, but few adults express gratitude to the screen after hitting Enter.
Should we teach children to treat smart speakers with politeness? What degree of courtesy is the proper courtesy? Faced with these unprecedented problems, neither the big companies leading the tides nor the ordinary parents can find a perfect and exact answer. This amusing and confusing philosophical myth will always be accompanied by the long journey of human exploration to the unknown.
Smart home:Theperseids
Electronic Mall:Tenco
Amazon Store:
Sandy's shop
Shop YIKESHU
In the United States, smart speaker coverage is steadily rising (Source: Statista)
As smart speakers walk into more and more people's homes, worries are born, and parents with children at home are more worried than others. In addition to worrying about privacy being compromised by smart speakers, parents are also worried about the unknown effects that smart devices will have on children, especially when they hear children make simple, rough orders to smart speakers. Regardless of how vocal the children's voices were, the gentle adult in the speaker would not refuse their request, but this left the parents at the side to be offended.
A report published by Childwise, a non-profit children’s research institution in the United Kingdom, earlier this year stated that children use fewer courtesy phrases such as “please” and “thank you” for dialogue with smart speakers. The report reminds parents and teachers that they should pay attention to this phenomenon, because smart speakers are gradually becoming mainstream devices, but children may not have the ability to distinguish the difference between anthropomorphic devices and real people. They may confuse the two and use the same communication methods to deal with machines and people.
The head of the research, Simon Leggett, expressed his worries: “After getting used to the dialogue with the smart speakers, will they use the same attitude towards teachers and shop assistants?” This may be awkward, but who not sure. After all, no one generation had ever grown up with artificial intelligence so intensively surrounded.
As the center of the vortex, two large companies, Google and Amazon, have already taken actions to add new features to smart speakers and cultivate children's habits of using polite language to prevent parents' concerns from becoming a reality. According to Strategy Analytics, the two market share in the smart speaker market reached 26.5% and 43.6% respectively.
In April of this year, Amazon released a special version of the smart speaker Echo Dot for children. In addition to the eye-catching, vibrant shell, Echo Dot also includes content that suits children's listening, parental controls, and features that encourage children to use polite expressions.
After consulting a child development expert, Amazon decided to design Magic Word as a positive enhancement. For example, when a child uses “please” or “thank you,” Echo’s voice assistant Alexa responds “You are welcome” or “Thank you for your polite inquiry.” However, if the child does not use polite language, Alexa will still provide the information requested by the child and will not show reproaches.
Amazon's children's special speaker Echo Dot (Source: Amazon's official website)
At the I/O conference in May, Google announced a new feature called Pretty Please. This feature is very similar to Magic Word and can be used on Google Smart Home and other third-party devices that support Google Assistant. Pretty Please also takes a positive reinforcement approach, but it goes one step further than Magic Word. Parents can change the settings. When children issue instructions in impolite tone, it responds “Please use that magic word!”
Pretty Please is selective. Parents can set the Pretty Please feature for a child at home. The smart speaker will recognize the child's voice and urge the child to use a more friendly tone during the conversation. This feature is expected to be launched this summer.
However, these polite guidance features still cause controversy and concern. An article on the Fast Company questioned that teaching children to learn politeness through smart speakers will further aggravate children’s cognitive confusion. The author Mike Elgan believes that courtesy is a reflection of empathy and respect in interpersonal relationships. The act of asking children to be polite about lifeless smart speakers suggests that artificial intelligence has similar emotions to humans and that humans need to take care of its emotions.
Taking a step back, courtesy of the machine is also undermining the meaning of politeness itself. After knowing that the machine in front of me has no emotion, I still say "Thank you." Does this thank you also have sincere gratitude? Or is it just a form of going through the field?
Elgan said that it is more important than teaching children to use polite expressions for smart speakers by teaching them to see the boundaries between reality and imitation. The first step is to put the artificial intelligence device in the same category as the oven and television, rather than in the same category as mom and dad.
In this regard, however, adults may be even less adept than children—only the human voice in a smart speaker gives them the illusion of dialogue. In contrast, Google Web Search uses exactly the same database as Google Assistant, but few adults express gratitude to the screen after hitting Enter.
Should we teach children to treat smart speakers with politeness? What degree of courtesy is the proper courtesy? Faced with these unprecedented problems, neither the big companies leading the tides nor the ordinary parents can find a perfect and exact answer. This amusing and confusing philosophical myth will always be accompanied by the long journey of human exploration to the unknown.
Smart home:Theperseids
Electronic Mall:Tenco
Amazon Store:
Sandy's shop
Shop YIKESHU
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