Can a voice bot save my life?

My Dad: “What happens if someone knocks on the door?”

11 year old me: “Don’t answer it”

My Dad: “And what if you hear a burglar down stairs?”

11 year old me: “Call 999”

Skip forward a decade or so….

25 year old me: “Shout out for Alexa?”

In a world where hyper-convenience is now the norm, it’s a real challenge for brands to offer an experience that adds that extra inch of benefit…. Enter voice technology. Over the last few years we’ve opened up our homes to some new guests. Alexa, Siri and Echo to name but a few. People have been surprised and delighted that they no longer have to lift a finger to send emails, order groceries or manage their calendar. Whilst digital innovators have been putting the new tech to different uses, some unintended consequences have surfaced. When something has such a big impact on customer experience, it’s potential to impact other areas is mighty too.

This thought sprung to mind after seeing this recent story about how a recording captured via Alexa was used in court to prove the case of a murder. During a scuffle at home, the voice tool picked up the moment which the fight turned physical and a stabbing took place. Now, a lot of these voice bots claim to only start recording once they’ve been triggered by their command, but whether this is entirely true is left to debate. What is certain is that this voice tool, most likely only used to set timers and skip songs, actually ended up bringing justice to the deceased. Incredible right?

And whats more, a lot of these voice bots, like Apple and Samsung, have emergency service features to help people in threatening situations. It’s quite reassuring knowing that we have a digital guardian always listening to our every move to keep us safe, but I questions whether the associated risks have been explored to the same depth. For example, we could become so reliant on tech to look after us that we forget how to look after ourselves. If the tech fails, it could land us in an even more dangerous situation. Furthermore, at what price do such services come at? It seems we have to entirely relinquish control of out privacy to keep ourselves protected. Alternatively what if voice bots were used against us, to incriminate us? That’s a whole ‘nother article in itself.

There’s endless possibilities around this newly discovered tech. We could even be entering a Harry Potter-esque world where all we need to know are the right “spells” to say and anything is in our power. Exciting, but the doubt still remains. Would I retrain my survival instincts to call on Siri rather than my karate white belt? Not sure. Will fundamental first aid become 1. unbutton shirt, 2. start CPR and 3. command Bixby to call an ambulance? Maybe. These examples definitely show a great use of #Tech4Good having both an individual and societal benefit. However, the negative implications have not been explored enough for me to fully put my life in technologys’ hands.

What are your thoughts? Would you trust technology to look after you or are you more sceptical of it? Let me know in the comments below