https://qz.com/1323940/alexa-is-a-terrible-doctor/

We become accustomed to technology so quickly, it’s easy to forget that Amazon’s Alexa was a pioneer just six years ago.

The idea was to introduce into people’s homes and offices a personal assistant so knowledgeable, so available, and requiring such minimal human effort that she would become ubiquitous. The utterance of a single word—her name—causes Alexa to spring into action. Without opening a laptop, tablet, or mobile device, we can now set reminders for ourselves, shop, and get answers to simple but essential questions like the weather as we go about our morning routine. Alexa, and the family of devices that rely on her, are programmed to become smarter as we use them, learning to recognize our voices, speech patterns, and usual requests.