She sits patiently in millions of homes, an unremarkable cylinder commonly referred to as Alexa. But Amazon’s new ‘virtual assistant’ has been touted as nothing short of technological revolution.
In response to spoken commands, she answers questions which previously required an internet search, can perform mundane domestic tasks such as turning on lights, and makes online purchases – through Amazon, obviously.
Can it all be as innocent as it seems, particularly in an age rife with internet snooping? Or is Alexa a spy? Some users have even reported ‘bone-chilling’ cackles emanating from their speakers at random moments.
What, then, could possibly go wrong when Peter Hitchens welcomed Alexa into his Oxfordshire home?
How would Alexa fare with a grilling on matters ranging from Beethoven to Bob Dylan, and from the Mid-East crisis to Einstein’s theory of relativity?
I am enslaved by machines. But, like most slaves, I know deep down that I chose my fate. I calculated long ago that I preferred a life with mobile phones and computers to one without them. The price is high. It includes the loss of privacy, the unceasing availability to outsiders, the time wasted on the internet, the books unread, the conversations which never happened, the views from train windows that I completely missed as I checked my Twitter feed. I am sorry, but I am not that sorry.
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But because my mind hardened before the age of the internet, I can resist much of it. Facebook is a mystery to me. I cannot see the point of it, or Snapchat or Instagram. My use of Twitter is brutally selfish, and if there were a Twitter Police, they would long ago have detained me for questioning.
So I am not…