Anthropomorphising isn't a new thing only made possible by life-like voices. People have done it to everything, from the weather to the well. Ever sworn at a (mechanical) machine?<p>As for slave-like almost-people... what of pets? Dogs and cats and horses and parrots are certainly alive, interactive and exhibit recognizable feelings. Although people don't grant them property rights, enfranchisement - and even have them put down - does that coarsen pet owners? I don't know. Maybe it does.
Are voice commands actually going to become our go-to method of machine interaction any time soon? The article sort of skips over the justification with:<p>> <i>Because conversational agents are almost certain to become the user interface of the future.</i><p>I know it's slightly tangential to the article's main point, but I think it's an interesting question. Are we really going to replace the language-independent and highly accessible lift button with a voice operated alternative? Will people really tolerate offices full of people commanding their computers through voice?
The hypotheticals in the article sound fanciful but I believe we'll be confronting them sooner than we think. Unwillingness to acknowledge computer sentience will become a major fault line in society within 25 years.
<i>Do you want this robot to do everything your child tells it to do? ... If we design robots to do everything a child demands, does that put into motion a master-servant relationship?” To be sure, the robot could be programmed to say no to the child. But as parents understand all too well, the key to getting a child to accept authority is knowing when to say no and when to say yes, and you wonder how a robot can be taught to know the difference. </i><p>It seems a little simplistic to consider only two possible positions: complete slavery to every whim or authority.<p>Children also have relationships with <i>friends</i>, who neither blindingly obey every command nor do they have authority over them. And we certainly don't expect the toddler that is friends with our son/daughter to know when to say yes or no.
We weren't evolved to type stuff on a slab of plastic, but we do that because it's meaningful. Kids are smart and realize that it's a machine they are talking to and not a person after a while. Similarly to how they don't responding to TV anchors. I don't think it creates any meaningful psychological effect, and the article only mentions dystopian hypotheses instead of actual research.