Talking With Machines
So, this adorable video has been making the rounds on the interwebs:
If you haven’t seen it already, watch it now. You won’t regret it. Not only does Rayna see a robot where there’s just a broken water heater, but she also instinctively tries to talk with, wave at, and even hug her new friend!
Moments like this offer a window into the world in which Rayna and the rest of her generation are growing up, surrounded by intelligent agents and things that can talk, hear, see, and more. What on the surface seems like a toddler’s fantastic imagination may actually hint at an emerging reality.
Clicking, Browsing, Tapping
New technologies and interfaces have a profound impact across generations. This is perhaps most visible in children who grow up knowing nothing else, setting an entirely new baseline of experiences, expectations, and norms.
Every now and then the next generation’s point of view surfaces in the hazy transition between old and new paradigms. Those of us who are old enough almost certainly have observed, if not experienced, this first-hand before.
I grew up pointing and clicking on PCs, in a world where computers fit on desks and applications used graphical interfaces. My Rayna moment was trying to use a mouse to navigate a commandline terminal.
My little brother grew up browsing and networking over the Internet, in a world where information and people were readily accessible from any computer. His Rayna moment was trying to access websites on an offline PC.
My nephew grew up tapping and swiping on smartphones, in a world where computers fit in pockets and screens are multitouch. His Rayna moment was trying to swipe digital displays on exhibits at the museum.
Talking, Gesturing, Hugging
Now, the “kids these days” are growing up talking and gesturing (and cuddling!) with machines, in a world where computers that live everywhere can talk, hear, see, etc. Rayna’s moment is revealing on a few levels:
- Perception: First, she perceives a broken water heater dumped on the side of the road to be a non-hostile, embodied agent/robot
- Interaction: Then, she initiates contact with a verbal greeting (“hi wubot”), waits for a response, and adds a wave to get its attention
- Affection: After waiting again, to no response, she does what only a toddler could…hug the robot and let it know she “wuvs” it
These innate attitudes and behaviors may seem extraordinary to us “olds” but will become quite ordinary for future generations, creating the conditions for new and unexpected products and categories to emerge. Here’s just a sampling of what people will be growing up around, across ages (toddlers, teens, adults, seniors) and domains (entertainment, education, productivity, health, transportation, etc.):
Smart Toys e.g. talking dinos, Wonder’s coding robots, hologram Barbie:
Voice Assistants e.g. Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant:
Conversational Chatbots e.g. Xiaoice, Replika, Hugging Face:
Social Robots e.g. Jibo, Pepper, Mira:
Child’s Play
Children have always indulged in play and used their imagination to interact with things that aren’t “alive”. Consider: Betsy Wetsy, Teddy Ruxpin, Tickle Me Elmo, Furby, or even just good old-fashioned toys and invisible friends.
But now Rayna and her generation are growing up in a world where their instincts extend far beyond play toys to machines responsible for myriad aspects of their day-to-day lives. Machines that live everywhere, interact with them in kind, and evolve with them over their lifetime.
For the first time people may start to grow “with” rather than “out of” their childhood imaginations, and more meaningfully engage the world for it.
