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Personality of things

Personality of things

Humans are starting to get better acquainted with personal assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and Bixby. But how would people feel about personalities translating to automobiles, laptops and other household items? Would we want a single seamless personality across all devices, or would we prefer to build new relationships with each of these things? Would we want these things to understand and empathize with us? Do we really need these things to â€œfeelâ€� what we feel or do we just needÂ the experienceÂ that they â€œgetâ€� us.


The vacuum cleaner, which was once a simple tool, is now aÂ RoombaÂ with a cheerfully clueless personality as it makes happy chimes and bumps its way through the living room. And while replacing a standard vacuum cleaner is no big deal, manyÂ RoombaÂ users demand that they get their exact same robot back from repairs and that it not be â€œkilledâ€� and scrapped for parts. They view it almost as a part of the family.

Tools on the other hand, are replaceable. And the more an intelligent system or piece of hardware feels like a tool, the more replaceable it becomes. InÂ Star Trek, the crew doesnâ€™t spare a second thought about replacing and upgrading the ship computer, which speaks to them in a monotonous disembodied voice because they view it as a tool. However upgrades or maintenance of Commander Data, an android crewmember, bring substantial concern because his human shape and personality make him feel alive and relatable. Further, studies have shown that humans are more likely to forgive mistakes if they are coming from a device that they view as â€œaliveâ€� whereas they have no such leniency for things they view as tools.


Personality Risk?


An extreme example of this can be found in the book (and movie)Â The HitchHikerâ€™s Guide to the GalaxyÂ where doors with â€œreal people personalitiesâ€� that sigh happily as people walk through them, which can get extremely annoying over time. However, designers today are already thinking about when to â€œtone downâ€� the personality of their devices.

Digital assistant designers today are cautious about how they use the assistantâ€™s voice. For example, they are careful not to use the assistantâ€™s voice for anything that could interrupt or otherwise irritate the end user, including alarms, timers, and even intercom broadcasts. Google Home lets users make outgoing phone calls, but not receive calls in (thus avoiding the assistant bothering you by ringing), and Amazon has been hesitant in its adoption of prompts or push notifications on Alexa. Major voice assistants have even started reducing how talkative they are. Google and Amazon have recently reduced the number of confirmation remarks for simple commands like â€œturn off the lightsâ€� to avoid users getting annoyed by hearing â€œokay, turning off the lightsâ€� when they just want to sleep.

Personality of Robotics




Source: TechCrunch

Belen De Leon