https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d3kgkk/google-duplex-assistant-voice-call-dystopia

S. A. Applin, Ph.D. is an anthropologist whose research explores the domains of human agency, algorithms, AI, and automation in the context of social systems and sociability. You can find more @anthropunk.

At I/O Tuesday, Google rolled out new features for Google Assistant. Google claims that these new features will be “helping you get things done to give you time back.” The announcement listed many improvements and options to streamline life with Google software and hardware. For starters, Google now thinks that teaching kids to ask for a movie by saying “Pretty Please” will ingrain politesse rather than teach children to beg from an Autonomous Agent. That said, I’m going to skip that for now, and focus on what Google is positioning as its future of communication with Google Assistant.