Amazon Alexa will soon be able to tell when your relationship is dying, The New York Post reports.
Experts say the device will be able to listen to a couple’s conversations, and by 2021, use this data to predict the chances that the relationship will last. It’s expected to be 75 percent accurate, so not quite as intuitive as your BFF, but a pretty close second.
According to the Independent, Alexa isn’t going to be a quiet bystander. It’s going to use what it hears during conversations and arguments to intervene and try to resolve issues.
Researchers suggest this could be especially beneficial for straight women.
Aparna Sasidharan, a researcher at the Imperial College Business School, tells the Independent that men and women often differ in the ways that they communicate. Men, he says, often cling to “report talk,” a logical, analytical way of problem-solving. This prevents them from engaging in many women’s preferred method of communication, “rapport talk,” which focuses on building and strengthening relationships.
I don’t know why anyone thinks it’s a good idea that AI will be 1. listening to our private conversations and 2. be functional enough to make determinations about our personal relationships. https://t.co/eLrPFrMC6J
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) November 29, 2018
Saisidharan says AI will “identify optimal ways to discuss common problems and alleviate common misunderstandings based on these different priorities and ways of viewing the world.” He suggests that Alexa may be part of a gender revolution in the next 10 years.
Obviously, this perspective doesn’t touch on any kind of relationship besides heterosexual ones, and it seems to presume inherent differences in men and women, so it may be important to take this revolutionary claim with a grain of salt.
If all of this isn’t weird enough for you yet, consider the fact that Alexa may also be able to predict how compatible people are before they even start dating.
The Independent says scientists hope to combine physiological data on heart rate, eye contact, and physical touch with gene analysis, which will allow AI to eventually predict compatibility.
Research predicts that within a decade, this will be able to happen before two people ever even meet.
I just have one question: Have these scientists never seen Black Mirror? This is literally the beginning of “Hang the DJ,” which was cute and all, but I’m not sure I want to live it anytime soon.