(If you ask what movies George Clooney has starred in and then ask how tall he his, Google Assistant will recognize that 'he' is in reference to George Clooney.) It's a far cry from a dialectic exchange, but it charts a clear path toward more conversational forms of inquiry and learning.Īnd, perhaps, something even more. This week, Google announced its smart speakers will remain activated several seconds after you issue a command, allowing you to engage in continuous conversation without repeating 'Hey, Google,' or 'OK, Google.' For now, the feature will allow your virtual assistant to keep track of contextually dependent follow-up questions. Our digital butlers could be capable of brain-building banter sooner than you think. Virtual assistants can't do that yet, which highlights the importance of parents using smart devices with their kids.

'Learning happens happens when a child is challenged,' Cassell says, 'by a parent, by another child, a teacher-and they can argue back and forth.' Alexa knows answers to questions that you don't! But most kids don't learn by simply receiving information. To parents it might register as a neat feature. As virtual assistants become increasingly capable, conversational, and prevalent (assistant-embodied devices are forecasted to outnumber humans), psychologists and ethicists are asking deeper, more subtle questions than will Alexa make my kid bossy? And they want parents to do the same. This worry has become so widespread that Amazon and Google both announced this week that their voice assistants can now encourage kids to punctuate their requests with 'please.' The version of Alexa that inhabits the new Echo Dot Kids Edition will thank children for 'asking so nicely.' Google Assistant's forthcoming Pretty Please feature will remind kids to 'say the magic word' before complying with their wishes.īut many psychologists think kids being polite to virtual assistants is less of an issue than parents think-and may even be a red herring. The fear is that kids who habitually order Amazon's Alexa to read them a story or command Google's Assistant to tell them a joke are learning to communicate not as polite, considerate citizens, but as demanding little twerps.

Among the more modern anxieties of parents today is how virtual assistants will train their children to act.

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