Conversing with machines: Affective affinities with vocal bodies

This article examines how the emergence of speech-driven interfaces for computational devices alters our affective relationships with machines, and argues that the rise of intelligent personal assistants such as Siri, Watson and Alexa calls for the question of affect to be brought to the centre of discourse around artificial intelligence (AI). It departs from the early imaginings and manifestations of human-computer conversations in the work of Turing and Weizenbaum, then introduces a Spinozan framework for theorising the transmission of affect and its ethical implications. It examines the affective economy engendered by vocal interfaces, drawing on a range of theories which focus on sound not only as an object of study, but also as a conceptual paradigm. It concludes by arguing that the machine voice constitutes a form of embodiment, and that according computers this “body” and inviting us to converse with them enhances our ability to enter into a sensuous relationship with them

Passing the Turing Test Does Not Mean the End of Humanity

In this paper we look at the phenomenon that is the Turing test. We consider how Turing originally introduced his imitation game and discuss what this means in a practical scenario. Due to its popular appeal we also look into different representations of the test as indicated by numerous reviewers. The main emphasis here, however, is to consider what it actually means for a machine to pass the Turing test and what importance this has, if any. In particular does it mean that, as Turing put it, a machine can “think”. Specifically we consider claims that passing the Turing test means that machines will have achieved human-like intelligence and as a consequence the singularity will be upon us in the blink of an eye

The Evolution of Gendered Software: Products, Scientific Reasoning, Criticism, and Tools

Over the past 7 decades, gendered software has become globally established. In this theoretical distribution, I outline the evolution of gendered software. The journey of gendered software started with the raw idea fueled by Alan Turing’s imitation game in the 1950s. And only shortly thereafter, in the 1960s and 1970s, the first gendered software products like Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA were developed. Thus, academia took its time to not only explore technological aspects, but to further investigate the matter of gender in the 1990s CASA-paradigm (Nass et al., 1994) and Media Equation (Reeves & Nass, 1996). As these theories reasoned the social impact of gendered software, voice assistants of the 2010s provided to be real-world examples stirring criticism. By posing the question of “boy or girl” through the decades, I take a deeper look at aspects such as raison d’être, realization, consequences, and future possibilities that ultimately challenge the applied gender binary. In doing so, it becomes evident that gendered software is situated in the bigger context of gender inequalities. Therefore, I propose to consider the listing of (1) product name, (2) voice, and (3) personality traits as decisive features forming to be powerful tools in the process of gendering software