BBC developing alternative to Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant

[grimreeper132]

5 hours ago, porina said:

1, it's reported by the Mail so I'd trust it appropriately. That is, not at all.

2, the BBC is a complex organisation, with cushy funding for its core UK TV services, and they're constantly looking to expand beyond that. Often by arguing for even more funding. If they are working on a personal assistant it would be contributing to part of that. They are long overdue a substantial review of its charter in how they operate and funded, as they currently exist in a space that is neither public nor private. I don't just mean what they should get as funding, but what their scope could or should be.

1. Thus the origional disclamier at the top

2. That is why I still thought it was approriate to post it here as it does sound like something they would do

[mr moose]

7 hours ago, Sauron said:

A media outlet is politically biased? Say it ain't so!

So what's your solution? Ban journalism? I know a guy with a weird haircut who'd love that.

 

To educate people and let others know that ignoring a problem does not make it go away.  Especially given the bbc is government funded they need to be held to tighter standards.

[Sauron]

53 minutes ago, mr moose said:

To educate people and let others know that ignoring a problem does not make it go away.  Especially given the bbc is government funded they need to be held to tighter standards.

You mean the government in power should decide what is or isn't biased? I can't imagine how that could possibly go wrong.

[aezakmi]

Auntie and BBC sound like things that could be in the title of a cheap ass indian porn movie

 

don't ask

[mr moose]

24 minutes ago, Sauron said:

You mean the government in power should decide what is or isn't biased? I can't imagine how that could possibly go wrong.

It is entirely possible to have equal voices represented in interviews on divisive issues you know.   It is entirely possible to ignore the social narrative and just employ the best people for the job without pandering to extremists.    If they can't do it then they should shut their mouths and just do entertainment and avoid the whole social political sphere.

[FiveSquared25]

4 hours ago, cj09beira said:

government spying on you or giant corporation larger than everything, rip.

the lack of balls on uks part is apparent, though, i do think that being sovereign is much more important than a bit less growth 

Your choice, but the economy will go down the crapper becaus rather finance industry will just pull up to Brussels

 

edit no nation is truly sovereign and even the UK can’t get amazing deals without the EU because who country wants to deal with the EU getting pissed at them with 200+ million people 

[PCGuy_5960]

9 hours ago, Sauron said:

So what's your solution? Ban journalism? I know a guy with a weird haircut who'd love that.

  

Besides, it's delusional to believe any corporation doesn't have political leanings - they're around to make money, if they believe that promoting the status quo (as they often do) or any other position makes them more money they'll do that.

My solution is that they shouldn't claim to be unbiased. Journalism should be unbiased, but if you can't do that, at least make it clear that you are biased and you are pushing an agenda.

[Sauron]

22 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It is entirely possible to have equal voices represented in interviews on divisive issues you know.

Can you name a news outlet that does that? Now to be clear, I'm not saying the BBC is a good news outlet or that they aren't very biased, to be honest I don't watch their stuff so I don't really know the extent of their bias - but no news outlet is completely unbiased, and going back to the original point of discussion companies like Apple are no less politically invested (I mean just look at the right to repair lobbying...).

27 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It is entirely possible to ignore the social narrative and just employ the best people for the job without pandering to extremists.

I don't see the connection... are we talking about news bias or the workforce?

28 minutes ago, mr moose said:

If they can't do it then they should shut their mouths and just do entertainment and avoid the whole social political sphere.

Do I get to say that about right wing talking heads too or would that be infringing on their freedom of speech?

7 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

My solution is that they shouldn't claim to be unbiased.

As I said, every news outlet is biased, some more than others but if the BBC had to put out some sort of disclaimer saying they are biased then everyone else should do that, too.

9 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Journalism should be unbiased

To be honest I'm not sure I agree - it's important not to lie and to present the facts as they are but journalism is about more than just relaying things that happen. News are often open to interpretation, especially political news - while the facts of what has been said are indisputable, what was meant by those words isn't always agreed upon and the consequences of certain political actions are up for debate. The journalist's opinion does matter to some degree. I mean, there's a reason the news section allows for the OP's own opinion, right?

 

Imagine a world in which tech youtubers just listed the specs of the products they review and closed off the video saying "so yeah, these are the specs, these are the benchmarks, this is the price; if you like it maybe buy it idk"...

[PCGuy_5960]

10 minutes ago, Sauron said:

As I said, every news outlet is biased, some more than others but if the BBC had to put out some sort of disclaimer saying they are biased then everyone else should do that, too.

Yes, that was kinda my point, every news outlet should have some kind of disclaimer that they are biased and shouldn't claim that they are unbiased.

12 minutes ago, Sauron said:

To be honest I'm not sure I agree - it's important not to lie and to present the facts as they are but journalism is about more than just relaying things that happen. News are often open to interpretation, especially political news - while the facts of what has been said are indisputable, what was meant by those words isn't always agreed upon and the consequences of certain political actions are up for debate.

Let's agree to disagree. IMO, journalism should be unbiased. Is it possible? Probably not.

14 minutes ago, Sauron said:

The journalist's opinion does matter to some degree.

The journalist's opinion doesn't matter, unless it's an opinion piece. Journalism is about news and facts, not opinions. 

15 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I mean, there's a reason the news section allows for the OP's own opinion, right?

Yes, LTT is a tech forum, not a tech news website. Discussing your opinion is the point of a forum. Also, most members clearly state the opinion part of their post, they don't present the facts in a specific way to push their own opinion. 

19 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Imagine a world in which tech youtubers just listed the specs of the products they review and closed off the video saying "so yeah, these are the specs, these are the benchmarks, this is the price; if you like it maybe buy it idk"...

Yes, but YouTube videos also have an entertainment value (aka I wouldn't consider tech youtubers journalists). Also, youtubers stating their opinion is fine, but if they manipulate the data to promote a specific product, they usually get called out. (for example, if they choose benchmarks that heavily favor a specific CPU/GPU)

[mr moose]

37 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Can you name a news outlet that does that? Now to be clear, I'm not saying the BBC is a good news outlet or that they aren't very biased, to be honest I don't watch their stuff so I don't really know the extent of their bias - but no news outlet is completely unbiased, and going back to the original point of discussion companies like Apple are no less politically invested (I mean just look at the right to repair lobbying...).

It does not matter if there is one or not, the point I am making is that there are definite quantifiable measures that can be taken to provide an equal platform when divisive issues are reported on.   E.G for every minute a green peace rep gets, then a representative of industry should also get it.   For every person employed they should have to record the qualification behind the decision and not the gender.  Instead of spending so much time creating policies to create gender balance they should be spending those resources creating policies to balance out air time etc.

 

37 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I don't see the connection... are we talking about news bias or the workforce?

Both, my original post is about the culture of the organization,  when an organization is government funded I expect cold hard unbiased culture that does not allow personal emotions or social narrative to dictate who gets the most air time.

 

37 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Do I get to say that about right wing talking heads too or would that be infringing on their freedom of speech?

 

You get to say that about any organization funded by the government that provides too much lip service to ideologues or extremists narrative, left or right and up or down.

[grimreeper132]

15 hours ago, mr moose said:

To educate people and let others know that ignoring a problem does not make it go away.  Especially given the bbc is government funded they need to be held to tighter standards.

far as I can see the BBC makes most of it's money from the TV lisence. Which although how much a lisense costs is controlled by the government (far as I remember) it gets paid directly to the BBC, so it's sorta government funded but sorta not.

 

That being said yes they do have some bias on alot of their stories, but compaired to many other news sources they do on alot of topics do do a better job at being impartial, which is also helped by the fact that they are legally required to be unbiased with news stories. (how well they do that and what side they sway to depends on your own opionion). 

[Monkey Dust]

Maybe their aim is to develop a voice activated assistants that understands all the UKs regional accents. I bet there are Glaswegians, Geordies, Scousers, Brummies and Wurzels who have never successfully used a voice assistant. I'm from the West country and even I can't understand full on Wurzels.   

[suicidalfranco]

11 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Just like any other assistant, they dont get made if it isnt for the sake of moving lots of money

well... there is Mycroft 

[Drak3]

Prediction:

 

 

 

 

Auntie, what is Antifa?

"Antifa is a group of American freedom fighters fighting facism."

 

Auntie, did Trump collude with the Russians?

"Absolutely."

 

Auntie, who is Bernie Sanders?

"The closest thing to a god to exist."

[ne0tic]

I just need a Jarvis voice-assistant ffs... 

[peanuts104]

This surely isn't a way for the British government to spy on people.  No, it won't be used for that at all. /s