Virtual assistants area lagniappe technology.
while Im doing the dishes and, lo and behold, itsFreebirdtime.
But not all virtual assistants are created the same.
One cool thing about virtual assistants is that my data persists even if I lose all my gadgets.
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Fancy some YouTube videos?
I never remember to turn the music on before I start doing the dishes.
But nothing lasts forever and the grim reaper comes for machines too.
A few years back IreviewedAnkis Vector, a cute little robot that was just too awesome to fail.
Credit: Nicole Gray
Isnt it cute?
Be careful getting attached though, it almost died.
Vector lives, but its as much a cautionary tale as it is a redemption story.
Vector was just a toy, but my toddler became quite attached to it.
But what happens when were dealing with something aimed at adults, such as Cortana or Google Assistant?
Twenty years ago AOL, Yahoo, and My Space were too big to go under too.
Losing Alexa would be a major inconvenience to this person.
But, even worse, Alexa isnt a toy.
And Google Assistant knows even more about me.
Because that data is a gold mine.
Most of us simply agree to terms of service that protect the company from us.
Im not saying any of these companies do or even will sell our private data.
Its actually in their best interests to keep a stranglehold on it and use it to train their systems.
Its going to end up in someones hands… the question is, who?
