Smart Speakers
How are smart speakers affecting us, from privacy through to consumerism and child development?
The number of smart speakers in US households has increased by 78% year-over-year, from 66 million in December 2017 to 118 million in December 2018. About ten million people in the UK now use one and, on average, one in 10 people in the world now own a smart speaker. And it does not seem like the rise is stopping any time soon.
Presenter Paul Bakibinga investigates the current possibilities of a smart home and voice design. Together with experts he explores how owning a virtual assistant - always on and always listening - introduces a whole host of issues to consider - from privacy through to child development and rampant consumerism. But, using your voice for browsing the internet, playing music or ordering groceries has proved to be a lifeline for disabled and elderly users.
We hear from child psychologist Rachel Severson, online privacy expert Florian Schaub, computer voice expert and psychologist Jonathan Gratch, Google鈥檚 Cathy Pearl and the author of Radical Technologies Adam Greenfield.
We are also invited to a multi-generational home of smart speaker users who don鈥檛 all agree whether these machines are a force for good or another way of surrendering our privacy.
Presenter: Paul Bakibinga
Producer: Ivana Davidovic
(Photo: Smart Speaker. Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
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Are smart speakers good for kids?
Duration: 01:31
Broadcasts
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 09:06GMT91热爆 World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 13:32GMT91热爆 World Service except News Internet
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 18:06GMT91热爆 World Service Australasia
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 21:06GMT91热爆 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 28 Jan 2019 23:06GMT91热爆 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Tue 29 Jan 2019 02:32GMT91热爆 World Service
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