Talking to technology

[00:00.13] It's good to have friends that we can talk to and share our thoughts and opinions with.

[00:06.51] More importantly, they're people we can ask for help or advice.

[00:11.29] But recently it seems, many of us are developing a new relationship with a mystery person that we'll never meet!

[00:20.06] I'm talking about virtual assistants or bots.

[00:24.30] These are pieces of software that we can talk to and it can talk back to us.

[00:30.68] Examples include Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana.

[00:39.18] It might be on your phone or computer or even a smart speaker in your home.

[00:45.29] They are changing the way we interact with technology - instead of typing on a computer keyboard or tapping on a tablet, we can now speak and a voice will answer.

[00:58.30] The people behind these voices are called conversation designers. Tom Hewitson is one of them.

[01:05.74] He told the BBC "this is kind of changing [computers] into like an agent.

[01:12.12] They’re an active participant in the interaction and in guiding you to make the right decision."

[01:18.49] So he's saying this cutting-edge technology has the ability to think for itself and make its own decisions.

[01:26.99] It is a scary thought that this virtual voice can think for you – will it stop us using our own brains and will we lose the ability to write things down or type?

[01:40.27] They are certainly clever, helping you to book train tickets, give you the latest weather news or even tell you a joke.

[01:48.77] But are they really your new best friend?

[01:53.29] One thing we can't do yet is to make chit-chat or small talk with it.

[01:58.60] We have to alter the way we speak.

[02:01.26] As Tom Hewitson says "We will develop our own kind of vernacular for speaking with machines that will be subtly different from how we speak to other people…

[02:12.15] It can be much more brusque and to the point."

[02:15.86] But there's no doubt this technology will soon be commonplace in our lives.

[02:21.18] This year Google Duplex was revealed, described by the company as artificial intelligence "for accomplishing real-world tasks over the phone".

[02:32.07] It's a type of chatbot that will allow you to, for example, chat to your hairdresser about when they can fit you in for a cut.

[02:40.83] Other companies are working on similar things.

[02:44.29] But before they perfect this new technology, don't forget who your real friends are!