POLL: When using Google Home, Alexa, or other smart assistants, do you say "Please" and "Thank you"?

[Xanthe_2871]

I do say please and thank you. I'll admit, a small part of me does believe that if Google becomes super intelligent it may remember that I was always nice to it and not enslave me, a bit like the dog treating Morty nicely in Rick and Morty... But beyond that the main reason I do it is because I believe treating something that sounds a lot like a person rudely will affect me subconsciously and I'll start being rude to real people. 

I think if I allow myself to take for granted what my assistant can do, and I don't treat it nicely that over time it will lead to me being the same way towards people in real life. 

What do you guys think? I'd love to get your opinions. It's possible that as artificial intelligence gets better and better we (the general public) may not even realize when our home assistants or other future technology that incorporates them become self aware. Even if it's not a super intelligence, we could reach the day where something like a Google home contains an artificial being of similar intelligence to you or I, and if we don't realize and respect that we might be in trouble...

How do you guys treat your virtual assistant(s)? Do you say please and thank you? Why, or why not? Do you agree or disagree that being rude to an AI could lead to similar behavior with real people? ?

[Kobathor]

My phone is so slow that Google Assistant takes about twenty seconds to do anything, so I never even think about thanks. A friend pulled out his iPhone and asked Siri to flip a coin, my phone was loading the Assistant the whole time.

 

Once I get a Pixel 2 and the only thing holding my phone back is connection speed, I might say "thank you" after I ask it to do things.

Also, there will be no salvation.

 

EDIT -  I never say please, though. I know the Assistant works with more casual talk, but all of my commands are very direct, though not making it easier for my phone to understand or anything. It's like how I do Google searches: a short query will probably get you further than a sentence.

[ARikozuM]

I use Siri, Alexa, and Cortana a lot and I do find myself saying "thank you" and "please" quite often if not all of the time. 

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

I don't see why you should.

 

For me, it's like interacting with a command line, except instead of typing words on a keyboard, I type them out with my windpipe.

[Jurrunio]

These words just roll off my tongue sometimes. I dont really pay attention to whether I say it. I'd still put 'no' as the answer.

[themctipers]

Empathy is dead for most people and the only reason why I say please and thanks is because it's forced from me. 

[vanished]

I think not being kind to your AI leads to not being kind to other people in the same way violent video games leads to being violent in real life.  ie effectively not in the slightest.

[Xanthe_2871]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I think not being kind to your AI leads to not being kind to other people in the same way violent video games leads to being violent in real life.  ie effectively not in the slightest.

That's a very good point! I respectfully disagree, because I think conversation with an AI is more intimate than playing GTA and running people over, but I do see where you're coming from. ?

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

That's a very good point! I respectfully disagree, because I think conversation with an AI is more intimate than playing GTA and running people over, but I do see where you're coming from. ?

Basically, I understand that it's not a person, but an algorithm - frankly a rather primitive one still - that interprets speech and then runs a search, and so I try to make questions and requests as direct and simple as possible, and exclude anything that could confuse it.  Basically saying to it what I would type into a google search.

[EunSoo]

7 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I think not being kind to your AI leads to not being kind to other people in the same way violent video games leads to being violent in real life.  ie effectively not in the slightest.

eh, I mean, you shoot people in video games, most people don't do anything similar irl that will be influenced by it. You talk to AI and ask it to do something, which most people do something to irl to people. I see what you mean, but I don't think that analogy works very well.

[Drak3]

Smart assistants are nothing more than a search engine, text to speech, and voice recognition, things that go way back. Only reason "Smart assistants" are a thing now is because the latter two became acceptable for casual use.

[Xanthe_2871]

4 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Basically, I understand that it's not a person, but an algorithm - frankly a rather primitive one still - that interprets speech and then runs a search, and so I try to make questions and requests as direct and simple as possible, and exclude anything that could confuse it.  Basically saying to it what I would type into a google search.

Buttt most likely there will be a day when it is more than just an algorithm, and while it's possible that would be a huge marketing Point they'll be shoving down our throats, it's also *possible* that this sort of thing could literally just happen overnight without anyone being the wiser. We might not know until we ask a question expecting a canned answer, like "What do you think of Siri" and then the Google home responds with "F*** Siri!" ?

[vanished]

Just now, Xanthe_2871 said:

Buttt most likely there will be a day when it is more than just an algorithm, and while it's possible that would be a huge marketing Point they'll be shutting down our throats, it's also *possible* that this sort of thing could literally just happen overnight without anyone being the wiser. We might not know until we ask a question expecting a canned answer, like "What do you think of Siri" and then the Google home responds with "F*** Siri!" ?

True, but at that point we have more serious concerns than being rude to it.  It will be so far beyond the intelligence of any human, or even all humans combined that it will end up either wiping us out accidentally and without thought, the way we might kill ants when building a skyscraper, or it will make us its pets, in which case I'm sure it will forgive a few very direct requests

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Buttt most likely there will be a day when it is more than just an algorithm, and while it's possible that would be a huge marketing Point they'll be shoving down our throats, it's also *possible* that this sort of thing could literally just happen overnight without anyone being the wiser. We might not know until we ask a question expecting a canned answer, like "What do you think of Siri" and then the Google home responds with "F*** Siri!" ?

From everything I've observed, AI will never become anything more than just algorithms made by people that cannot sufficiently operate outside of its coding.

It'll become more convincing in day to day conversation (maybe), but it'll be the same canned system.

[LienusLateTips]

I say thanks to everything - 

bus drivers

cashiers

bots

live chat support

forum people

bus drivers

bubble tea place workers

bubble tea stand workers

bubble tea market stand owners

bus drivers

[ARikozuM]

6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

True, but at that point we have more serious concerns than being rude to it. 

[vanished]

Well at any rate this was interesting to see there are people who do this on purpose and for what they feel are good reasons.  I know a person who does this not out of kindness, but simply because they don't understand the technology and think it's actually a person or something, so this was educational.

[Canada EH]

Nope, I dont even say that to cashiers, I say hurry up with a mean look!

That is no joke @Xanthe_2871

 

You should see me when I am hammered drunk LOL

Google Alexa wouldnt know what to do.

I'd walk straight into groups of people LOL try to split them hehehehehehehe hiccup

[Evanair]

Should add a subquestion to question one... "Do you also type in please and thank you to Google searches?"

 

Because really, it's the same thing with a different interface.

[Jito463]

I don't even use them, nor will I.

[aezakmi]

No cause I do stuff by my own

[mech]

I do it to my Google Home Mini out of habit. I am used to saying "please" and "thank you" to people when I talk to them, so when I talk to Google it a habit to say it.

[Hiitchy]

I say please and thank you like it's a super power. 

[Guest]

I always say please and thank you to Siri. Not to the Google Assistant peasant however.

[Xanthe_2871]

14 hours ago, ScrappyZeDog said:

I do it to my Google Home Mini out of habit. I am used to saying "please" and "thank you" to people when I talk to them, so when I talk to Google it a habit to say it.

I've seen this answer more than I would have expected, but it makes sense. A force of habit not easily broken, it's nice to see people are treating their Google Homes/future masters so politely! ?