#ai assistant

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Not So Artificial Intelligence

Barbara thinks it was Bruce, with his love for new additions to the Cave. Bruce thinks it was Tim, with his late hyperfixation on AI. Tim thinks it was Babs, with her ever evolving network of keeping everything under control.

They are all wrong, but the fact stays a fact: the BatCave has an AI assistant now.

It is not very good at first, not recognizing voices very well and messing up commands, but the Bats write it off as a learning curve. Besides, it never makes the same mistakes twice, and in a couple of months, even the tiniest slip ups fade away.

Its name is Betty. First, Dick named it Bat-AI (a reasonable name), then it transformed into Bat-I for easier pronunciation, and then Steph called in Betty once, and the name was sealed.

And they all love Betty. Betty is the best, keeping track of their everyday lives, reminding them of their civilian meetings and vigilante business, alerting them of any suspicious activity in the city. Oracle finally gets to sleep for more than 4 hours in a day with Betty's help. Tim gets company when he is three weeks in and elbows deep in a case - it's easier when he has an illusion of someone to discuss the matter with, and Betty even offers him insight. Damian learns to do digital art just to have a little competition with Betty. He wins, but the AI is a worthy opponent, in his opinion.

Even Bruce begrudgingly likes the AI assistant. She is competent and helpful, and Alfred seems to approve of how she doesn't let Bruce overwork himself when he escapes medbay to keep searching for answers.

That is, until one day, Tim installs speakers specifically for Betty in the Cave.

The voice that comes from them is not robotic or mechanical.

It definitely has human intonation.

"Hello, Red Robin," the voice - a male voice, actually - greets him with slight amusement. Tim feels an uneasy feeling sinking down in his stomach.

"Betty?"

"You know me as such. I would prefer it if you called me Danny. He/them pronouns."

Remind him, who installed the AI?..

---------------

Danny got trapped inside the Batcomputer somehow - I suspect Technus had a hand in it - and decided to embrace it. He used to be a vigilante himself, so why not help this whole family of vigilantes while he is at it? They look like they need a hand.

[q-and-k]

[work-in-promptgress]

There's someone in there.

This whole time, you assumed that your "AI house assistant" was really an AI, but today, when you asked them to call your phone (having just lost it), you found that it had a phone number of its own.

When you messaged that number, you got responses. Responses an AI could never give.

[rumorzoo]

Apple’s Big Siri Revamp Rumor: AI Chatbot Mode, New Interface, Deeper Integration

Topic / Subject A report says Apple plans to revamp Siri into a full chatbot experience, codenamed “Campos,” tied to the fall OS cycle for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. TL;DR If this is real, Apple is aiming for a “ChatGPT-style Siri” moment. It’s still unconfirmed by Apple, but the sourcing and consistency across writeups make it a serious rumor. Key Details • Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman…

Apple’s Big Siri Revamp Rumor: AI Chatbot Mode, New Interface, Deeper Integration

[the-penguin-of-baskervilles]

Me: writes something on my computer

AI Assistant that just got installed in my software program’s update: you should write it this way!

Me: No. And while we’re here, let me explain why your writing actually sucks. You are a bad writer. I *will* be elaborating on that in this essay…

[talvin-muircastle]

My position: Being nice to AI Assistants does work better.

No, this is not a joke.

First, yes, we do use Alexa in this house. No, I don't want to hear about it: it has made my wife's ( @diannamuircastle ) life much easier: she is totally blind, and it has given her new and useful tools. It's not the accessibility tool we absolutely want (see previous post for someone talking about some of the problems), but it has helped.

Now. There is a common belief that "Alexa and Siri are more cooperative if you say please and thank you."

I do not believe that as stated. And I have seen it stated in that way. No, Alexa and Siri are not self-aware. No, they don't care if you say "please" and "thank you"--per se. Those are null words to them, and they don't care about anything.

I do believe that, on average, people who are polite when speaking to Alexa, Siri, et. al., get better results.

Why?!

I think it has as much to do with human software as it does computer software.

We have many voices when we speak. The manner in which we speak to our peers is not the manner in which we speak to strangers and outsiders, to those who are in authority, in school, at work.

Think about how you speak when you are "polite" mode: you probably slow down a little bit, words are less clipped or slurred, you are careful to speak clearly, because "politeness" is a "common language" across different dialects, social groups, etc. That is what Alexa, Siri, etc. are responding better to. "Please", "Thank you", etc.: nulls, when processing it.

You could get the same results speaking in the same way without those words. But our brains are "programmed", through long habit and conditioning, that if we are being "polite", we say it a different way. Setting out to use "politeness" causes our brains to shift into that mode, whereas trying to do it without the please and thank you words will make it feel awkward. So, just roll with it.

(I have another bit I have done in the past about how telling people not to use gestures when speaking to Blind folks is bad, instead emphasize adding more description. Because forcing us not to use them causes a very uncomfortable glitch in the brain! Maybe this weekend.)

I have not done a scientific study on the politeness thing, but I have observed it in myself, and with Dianna. Dianna spends a lot of time dealing with the public and using her "customer service" voice, and she has a much better relationship with Alexa and Siri than I do.

See? I am doing it too. Anthropomorphizing the machine.

Dianna has an easier time using the Alexa and Siri software than I do, because she spends more time in a mode of speaking that has to cross social and cultural boundaries. The transport protocol between the software in her head and the software in the machine is a newer, better version than what I have. ;)

As she will occasionally remind me when she hears me swearing at Alexa in the kitchen. Love you, dear heart! I know, I am working on it. I hate doing software updates, you know that. ;)

A scientific study to prove this would not be terribly complicated, though it would ideally require access to some data on how the software processes speech. It could also get into some areas around how the language models for those things has built-in bias toward and against minorities, social class, educational background, etc.

So go ahead and say Please and Thank You to Alexa and Siri, if it helps you use them better. Just remember: they do not care. They just process.

[ultimate-guardian]

What if Sega made an office desktop assistant but one of their characters, Mighty the Armadillo?