Recently in class I mentioned I had seen the movie 'Her,' a story about a man who falls in love with his operating system. I wasn't terribly excited about seeing it; I chalked it up to another take on the romantic comedy, a genre of film I find repellent. That's why I was surprised at how good I thought it was, as it touched on issues of technology dependence and withdrawal, isolationism, loneliness in an increasingly connected yet decreasingly face-to-face world, plus it removed the issue of physical appearance, for both parties, from the equation. In fairness to the guy, the OS was voiced by Scarlett Johanssen. Give him a break!
A couple of you mentioned that you thought the whole thing was just too weird, that the very concept itself was unnerving. Well, prepare for it to get weirder and unnerving-er! In the same vein as that movie, Microsoft is readying what it refers to as a digital assistant to take on the offerings from Apple (Siri) and Google (Google Now). In the upcoming release of the Windows Phone 8.1 platform, Microsoft will be including Cortana, a personal assistant named after the eponymous AI from their Halo series, that will not just respond to queries, but will have some personality as well, including the way it bounces around the screen or presents a frown based on queries posed. That also means it won't take on the female persona it had in the games, and I suspect for good reason - considering she's digital, it was surprisingly difficult to find an appropriate header image for this post.
Cortana will also be replacing Bing search on the phones. That doesn't mean Bing is gone, not by any means. Bing will still be one of the underlying search mechanisms that provides Cortana her (her? its?) results, along with Nokia's HERE maps among others, and Apple's Siri uses Bing as its underlying search mechanism as well.
But with these personal digital assistants developing more and more of a personality, both reactive and specific, we're starting to enter what I suspect will become a challenging time, especially since we are already dealing with many, many, many people experiencing a removal from real-life as they accept digital versions instead.
I find this very interesting and kind of scary to think about your phone having a personality in itself. I personally do not use Siri because I think that it is kind of strange talking to your phone, when you could just look for things yourself, rather than going through Siri. Who wants there computer to have a personality in the first place, but there are some people out there that are dependent of Siri for looking up information, so Windows could take over with their personal assistant. I still think its rather creepy.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't seen the movie "Her" but based on what I've heard, our society is moving closer and closer to this type of dependency, as more personal digital assistance systems become available. I'm personally not thrilled about this or any personal digital assistance. Humans should not put their dependency on a system, it makes people seems brainless. I also do not use Siri mainly because I can look something up quicker than she can. Also, she doesn't understand me at times and it's very frustrating, so I gave up. A system that has feelings or a personality doesn't even seem possible, there will probably be a lot of system error and confusion. Not even humans can identify other people's feelings 100%.
ReplyDeleteI used to play Halo, and I think that using Cortana as her name is great. They are using a name that is already recognized as a great AI. It is interesting that she will have some “personality” by the way she appears on the screen and also her ability to have facial expressions. I can see how this is a great thing for technology advancement but scary for “real-life”. Like you stated, people are accepting digital versions over real-life more and more. Do I think that Cortana is going to be pretty cool of course, but I think people are starting to depend on their little helpers aka Siri and soon to be Cortana to much. Technology is used in everyday life and that’s okay but this might lead to trying to create AIs’ and we have all seen the movie I-Robot. Maybe AIs’ are not a good thing.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie Theobald
Wow! Unfortunately, I think she will be wildly popular. I only say that, because as you pointed out people are just becoming more and more removed. For example, I too am a victim of this removal. At this point, I will text over talking verbally on the phone. It just seems easier, and my responses are more well thought out. I know, its terrible. My boyfriend hates this about me, and insists that I pick up the phone and just have a conversation. However, sometimes I even get anxiety when the phone rings. I think it is just prolonged reliance on simply texting others. Whatever it is it isn't positive in my life.
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't be more correct when you mention how technology is quickly taking over most people's lives, some people just don't know how to balance it. Sometimes I joke around with my wife (while being a little serious) that is becoming harder for me and more irritating to have to compete against her iPhone and many apps it possesses for her undivided attention, Now give Cortana the voice of George Clooney and I'm probable not even going to have the little time I currently get.
ReplyDeleteJust like Nichole, I also think she will be popular, but I don't know to what extent yet since we still need to see a bigger increase in Microsoft phone users to see Cortana become as possible as Siri.
All and all, I keep thinking technology is great and any advancement is and should be welcomed, I think it is people who need to start learning on how to interact with each other instead of with machines, before we completely forget what real really is.
I have not seen “Her,” and I am not sure I want to. It seems like a movie that would be too hard or too sad to watch at certain points. However, critics and audiences are giving it pretty good reviews, so I may catch it eventually.
ReplyDeleteI understand that a lot of people can feel isolated because of instant messaging, texting, and social media, but I believe that having a digital assistant with facial expressions and personal responses would make it worse. For example, if I felt depressed or disconnected from my family, friends, work colleagues, etc., I know that talking to a digital person would make me feel pretty crappy, especially if I did not have the option to jump in my car and go spend time with people that I was missing.
However, I am curious to see how this digital assistant works and more anxious to see how people respond to this technology as it becomes more common.
I absolutely love technology, every day there is something new out there waiting to e discovered and become available to us. However I appreciate talking to other people, not just through a computer or phone. The other day I saw a post on fb about how if you want to watch a series to stay connected because people post every five minutes about their personal lives. I can only imagine what will happen if these programs get as advanced as in the movies. many will prefer to sit in their computer all day rather than talking to other people in a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteHonestly there has been many things regarding us human species to be weird. An operating system that is designed for a specific individual to understand and anticipates your wants I honestly do not find it surprising that some will fall in love. In many of the sci-fi movie falling in love and showing other "intimate" actions is against human and civil law. Thus these movies are actually a glimpse of the future I would not find unusual if the actions of this movie will actually happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your reasoning on the matter. I believe someone out there with come up with something very similar or even exact and make a reality of the movie happen. I don't understand estimate anyone in technology anymore in this day and age.
DeleteI find this a little strange for any human to fall in love with operating system. Yes I understand the fact it knows what you want, but it will never have true emotion. Technology is great, but the one problem is it's causing us to lose human interaction. You constantly see people on their phones and not reacting to the people around them.
ReplyDeleteI can see where this would be a growing trend that many would like to have available to them. It can easily accommodate several types of individuals. But for me personally I find it very odd and strange and would be less likely to use this at this point in time. I find the voice to text strange and not something I use on a daily basis, but I know others who use Siri all the time and love it. I think it's just something that will grow as we get more used to using it everyday and seeing several use it. While it is a very odd thing, it can have it's benefits and it's times in which it is beneficial and appropriate to use.
ReplyDeleteEven thought technology is advancing and making a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. I don't think that this is overall healthy for humans to think that this acceptable to interact in such an emotional way. Computers and machines are supposed to help assist you with technical problems that you may have or become tools for work and school. They leave people feeling totally and emotionally dependent on them. Yes they are reliable and resourceful, but they aren't human substitutes. As long as we continue to advance in the artificial intelligence, we also need to teach the younger generation that these are only useful tools and they are not substitutes.
ReplyDeletewow this is weird but not surprising. Have you heard of this digital/hologram singer from Japan? Her?its? name is Hatsune Mikoo. Its creators use a program call Vocaloid to synthesized her voice. Probably Google, Bing, or whoever will replicate or improved that Vocaloid program.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMmcsH0fo8