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[martinuzz]

In an unspeakable act of villainy, Siri, Alexa and Google assistant have been fitted with ears to hear the unhearable.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/technology/alexa-siri-hidden-command-audio-attacks.html

[wierd]

But can they also speak the unspeakable?

If so, it would be hilarious to have them argue silently in the room.

[Max™]

I gotta say, despite the common sci-fi tropes of "computer, blahblahblah" commands I would NEVER have expected the smart speaker trend to take off like it has.

[Cyroth]

I never understood why. They have the same downside as children, that you always have to check what you're saying out loud, without being nearly as punchable bringing nearly the same amount joy and happiness into your home. 

Seriously though, I find the concept of haveing something in my home, that isn't either a fully sentient human being or a dog, reacting and replying to my voice creepy AF.

[Starver]

Get a cat. More sentient than a human being but therefore ignores what you say entirely.

[Reelya]

How many people actually use smart speaker type voice assistants though, is it actually that widespread? When they're promoting something it can be hard to separate the actual numbers from the spin that "everyone has it, so you need to have it".

EDIT: quite a few, but it's more like a fad since "66 percent said they want to entertain family and friends with the speakers – for example, by doing things like playing music, asking general questions, telling jokes, playing games, getting news and weather or sports scores, and more".

A more high-tech version of the fidget spinner basically.

[Kagus]

I'd think that blind folks might be interested in using one, but come to think of it I don't believe any of my blind friends actually use a home unit... Mainly just hook up the smartphone to whatever systems they want to control and ask Siri/Alexa to do it.

[Starver]

I've seen ads for Sky (satellite TV provider, if that's not global knowledge, diversified into phone/broadband provider as well) and its new receiver/DVR/on-demand box that responds to voice.

Given the ubiquity of the provider (not quite a monopoly, with maybe two other big semi-monopolies serving the local market, without the increasingly irrelevant satellite broadcasting element which even Sky is moving away from towards broadband-provision of its broadcasts) I can imagine an awful lot of miked-up set-top boxes (whether or not they're officially activated and the responsive service subscribed to) sitting there in the midst of many households, alongside the XBox Kinect and all the other little devices with audio and/or video capabilities.

Now, if I were paranoid… I probably wouldn't tell you that I was.

[Bumber]

I saw a commercial yesterday for a home-security system that looks like it uses one of those smart speakers. Don't worry, Big Brother will keep your home safe.

[Kagus]

It Came From Outer Space And Ate Our Fish.

A rousing tale of spacefaring mollusks sure to make you quiver with gelatinous apprehension!

[wierd]

Smells like a good plot hook for a book.

Aliens visit a nascent biosphere on a 70+% water world. (earth)
Are disheartened that there aren't any good candidates for advanced sapient life.
Uplift nautiloids into proto octopus, hoping they will evolve true sentience and become space faring eventually.
Fly away.

...

Humans evolve faster due to a more tumultuous environment.
Humans regularly eat octopus.

...

Humans become space faring, bump into the aliens from before.
The aliens from before are horrified when humans serve calamari at the first contact luncheon.

[Kagus]

Well, to be fair, calamari is squid. Octopus would be something like tako sashimi.


...but yes, I quite like that. Bit of a wee faux pas there, innit?

[smjjames]

Well, to be fair, calamari is squid. Octopus would be something like tako sashimi.


...but yes, I quite like that. Bit of a wee faux pas there, innit?

Assuming that it’s even edible for the aliens.

[Kagus]

Well, to be fair, calamari is squid. Octopus would be something like tako sashimi.


...but yes, I quite like that. Bit of a wee faux pas there, innit?

Assuming that it’s even edible for the aliens.

That just makes it even more socially awkward.

"Why are you waving the dismembered bodies of our hopeful experiments at us? Is this some kind of mockery? A boast?"

"What? No, we just... we thought you might be hungry and want to... eat some."

"...how?"

[wierd]

"How can you eat something that intelligent!? Did you NOT see the distributed nervous system? Did you NOT notice the advanced problem solving we gave it!? We notice that for the most part, your species prefers not to consider eating other primate species, many of which are significantly less intelligent than what is sitting on my plate right now--- How do you justify.... THIS!?"