Amazon’s Alexa was in the news again this week, but this time for creepily laughing at its owners without any provocation. Imagine being home alone, after watching a scary movie, and hearing that laugh out of nowhere.
The “always listening” feature of these smart speakers does bring a variety of privacy concerns to mind, and as more homes become voice-enabled it inevitably will lead to the beginning of Skynet. However, that has not stopped the rapid adoption of the virtual assistant in the US (including by me!). In fact, Juniper Research predicts that by 2022 over 55% of US Households will have a smart speaker.