This Uncanny Valley of Voice Recognition

15 Feb 2015 • zachholman.com

I think the reason people liked Her (2013) so much was that it didn’t seem all that creepy. It seemed like you’re gaining a friend. And it’s going to be weird at first, since it’s going to need to be always-on, always listening, and always learning from you. But if we can ever jump past this uncanny valley, that’s where we’ll basically build AI, for all intents and purposes, and we’re going to have a friend following us around. And it’s going to make life better for us.

Well, depending on which science fiction you watch. We could all end up depressed or die, too.

Yep. Always that teeny tiny risk that the intelligence we build won’t turn out to be all that friendly at all.