Story by: Kelsi Veik
Each and every day we encounter many different types of technology. It is believed that our devices are tuning into what we say. For example Siri, Alexa, Google, etc. But is this really true or are we all overthinking?
The creators of Siri, Alexa, and Google have all come up with a somewhat similar response to this question. Most of them say that the devices have a name for a reason. So when you say the name that is when they are activated to respond and do whatever else you need. But doesn’t that mean that they have to be listening to you all the time to hear their name be said to be activated?
Another question that I had personally are what is the reasoning behind the names? First is Siri. Apple says that they choose their name because it is an easy name, easy to say and spell. They also said that in Norwegian the name means “beautiful women who leads you to victory”. This name would make sense because everytime you speak to her she, quote on quote, leads you to victory. Even though she doesn’t know the answer to every question you ask her. The next name is Alexa. This name does seem a little bit weird to me just because it is a common name. The reason for this name is pretty simple, they said that the name with the hard “X” at the end makes it easier for the device to detect if her name is being said. And last is google. Google is the actual name of the company so that's a pretty simple reason.
From my personal experience, I believe that I am being listened to. Quite often I will be having a conversation with someone with my phone nearby, and after the conversation is over I tend to see ads about the thing I was talking about with the person. For example, if I were talking about water bottles with the person, an ad would pop up on my phone about water bottles. Weird, right?
All in all, my answer to the question is yes, they are listening. Even though there is no hard evidence to support my opinion, and there probably never will be, there are just too many coincidences to deny the fact that my Alexa is listening to everything I say. What do you think is the government listening to you read this right now?
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