Let’s look at some consumer devices to make the point. How about Amazon’s Ring video doorbell system? The company touts its Smart Video Search and claims that “using Ring IQ, your eligible cameras can identify people, vehicles, and packages and will only alert you when those things are spotted.”
Really? My settings allow me to tell it to only alert me when a human is detected. So, why am I awakened at least twice a week at roughly 2 AM when the same spider chooses to walk across the doorbell camera? Or when it feels the need to alert me when it starts to rain hard? Last year, I swear that it would routinely alert when — gasp — the sun set. (Ring eventually fixed that one.)
But my favorite examples come from my iPhone. Better than a human administrative assistant? Envision this: You’re aggressively prepping for a 2 p.m. in-person meeting with your largest client. Your assistant and three other people are going with you, so you all get into the car and drive off.
