The internet and other advances in computers have allowed for devices, like Alexa, to answer one’s questions or follow a direction upon being asked. This raises the question of whether smart devices are able to hear us or not. These devices are able to hear us. They hear us so when we ask it a request, it is able to respond to us. If we have made advances in computers so they have facial recognition like in The Circle, it is completely possible for us to make computers be able to listen to us.
For a device to be able to hear us and for a device to understand us are two different topics. I believe that devices are able to hear us, but I do not believe they are able to understand us. Computer AI is a program that is designed to mimic a human brain. This artificial human brain is only based upon programing and equations. It is unable to think or make decisions on its own, thus not allowing it to understand what a person says to it. So, in conclusion I do believe that Alexa and similar devices are able to hear what we say but they are unable to understand what we tell them.
If they are unable to understand what we tell them then how do they do what we ask?
It is a program. If I gave you a book of Chinese symbols, not a dictionary, that told you what symbols to give me after I give you a symbol, you would have no clue what the symbols mean. I could give you the symbols that ask the question, “What is your favorite color?” The book I gave you might have you give me the symbols saying that your favorite color might be red, but you dod not know what it means. This is how a computer program works. It is just inputs to receive a certain output.