Gadgetory

people would always ask hey Jase what's the next big device coming around the corner that I can get excited about and I would always say it's not a device it's a new category not always sure what the new category would be but I think it might be safe to say that that category is not a device but artificial intelligence because what I just saw is fun creepy scary and awesome all at the same time meet Google duplex in the first demo the AI driven voice for Google assistant called for a woman who wanted to make a haircut appointment I'm looking for something I'm a third the demo showed the AI voice understanding the voice of the human on the other end of the call and made the correct responses to the real person's answers Google's assistance voice even put in words like um to make it sound like a more real human after the phone call was completed Google assistant sent a notification to the original user informing them that the haircut appointment was confirmed impressive but it gets better now in the second demonstration is where things got pretty crazy because the Google AI tried to make a restaurant reservation on behalf of its user and called a small restaurant the person at that restaurant the real person who answered the phone clearly was not a native English speaker had a pretty thick accent and the way they spoke was sometimes a little bit confusing hi I'd like to reserve a table for Wednesday the 7th it's for four people well people win at 6 p.m. Oh actually really sir for like a per like a 5 people four people below you can come how long is the way usually to be beated the Google a I understood the context of the conversation smoothly confirmed all the details of the infirm and successfully made that reservation that call that communication would have been difficult for some regular human beings and the Google AI did it smoothly in such a way that the person on the other end the real person would have an exceedingly difficult time believing or understanding that the person they were speaking to was not a real person holy crap it's just great right so where's the scary part well it is scary when you begin to apply the law of unintended consequences yes many people will use this tool to book hair appointments and restaurant reservations for sure but at the past 15 years is any indication what people will do they will use this as another insulation another wall another barrier between them and the real world we have a whole generation of young people digital natives who don't know what life was like before the internet and they are deeply probably you are deeply immersed in a digital world much much more than maybe is healthy and I think that tools like this make it even easier to go deeper into that world and not develop the real life skills that you need to connect with people you see when you connect with me here many of you talked to me on Twitter and in the comments like you know me like we know each other like there's a relationship there's not not really you know the person on this screen the image and persona that I present on this screen but that's not me that is just a inadequate facsimile of Who I am but there is an emotional payoff and make you feel something I may make you laugh I may inform you all those things but that is a sick inappropriate substitute for connecting with someone in the real world in the flesh and tools like this just make it easier to avoid that altogether that's my fear I really see it I see it in my teenagers I see in the students that I've taught I'm worried I'm really worried what do you guys think about it let me know in the comments below because I think we're starting with a slippery slope it's easy to use a tool like this to make a hair appointment but this kind of technology going to be used much deeper things and I'm worried let me know what you think now lately here on our show we have been getting pretty serious about online privacy and you should know that using Google Chrome's incognito mode alone is not going to protect you from government surveillance or if you have a nosy Internet service provider what can help you with that is Express VPN what is a VPN VPN stands for virtual private network and if you're using a good VPN hackers can't target you or skim your personal data even over public Wi-Fi networks advertisers can't harvest information about you or your browsing patterns and finally governments and companies can't see what you're doing online if you want to try that out use our link right in the description below for 49% off and three months free bang-bang