Deep machine learning, speech recognition, emotion and body sensing have dramatically progressed, empowering voice activated PDAs such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now, and Microsoft’s Cortana. These virtual assistants will continue to improve until they become hard to distinguish from real people.
Interacting with ‘humanized’ technology in the context of therapy and coaching will turn our devices into ‘identity accessories‘: they will become tools to actively guide our behavior and identity based on goals we provide.
The availability of virtual assistants that interact on issues we so far considered uniquely human will raise profound scientific, psychological, philosophical, and ethical questions.
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