In the future, virtual assistants will not only take orders, they’ll also have ideas of their own
FOR A tiny tabletop robot, ElliQ has a lot of opinions.
When the weather is nice, it suggests a walk. When it’s time to take medication, the device is ready with a reminder. Haven’t spoken to relatives in awhile? It thinks a call is in order.
Israel-based Intuition Robotics is developing the virtual assistant specifically for the elderly, a population shown to be more vulnerable to social isolation and physical inactivity. The founders expect that frequent engagement with a robot that makes positive lifestyle suggestions will promote physical and mental wellness, Chief Executive Dor Skuler said. “Think of it as a fully autonomous agent,” Skuler said. “You tell it what your goals are, and it tries to measure how you’re doing on those goals and suggests activities accordingly to help you meet those goals.”
Advancements in artificial intelligence have given rise to inhome virtual assistants, devices that listen and respond as we can command them to turn off the lights, purchase items online or order restaurant takeout. Amazon Echo and Google Home, two popular systems, can now be found in millions of homes.
ElliQ ( pronounced L-EQ) represents a new role for these technologies: proactively recommending ways in which humans could be living better lives, from getting more exercise to watching informational videos. Humans may not yet be taking direct orders from their technology, but a relationship may be emerging in which smart devices wield even greater influence over our decisions.
“If we’re focusing just on virtual assistance, I think so far the interaction has been very much human-initiated,” said William Mark, president of information and computing sciences at SRI International. “I put it that way because if we broaden the perspective, of course there are lots of examples of machines telling us what to do.”
Indeed, machines prod humans all day. Your alarm rings to keep you from sleeping through a morning meeting. Your car beeps when you’ve started the engine but haven’t clipped your seat belt. Your Netflix account suggests movies to watch based on your viewing history.
Virtual assistant robots are different in that they have a broader view of our daily lives and are designed to help us accomplish tasks. They can already learn when we typically wake up and go to sleep, what we watch on television and what we purchase online. As the devices become capable of doing even more, they will store and analyze that information, too.
The key is that we invite those technologies to nag us and that we have control over them. We set the alarm clock ourselves, and have the power to hit snooze.
“We have a whole set of words for talking about this in English: Persuade, hint, advocate, encourage,” Mark said. “There’s all kinds of things that have a wide variety of implications and very different feelings that are generated by it.” ElliQ monitors the user’s movements and learns their patterns to ensure its suggestions are well-timed, Skuler said. — WP-Bloomberg