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ZDNET's key takeaways
How you talk to AI may shape how you treat people.
Rudeness to machines can normalize command-driven behavior.
Politeness to AI is really about self-discipline and well-being.
In 2018, a Lynn, Massachusetts mom named Lauren Johnson, with a then six-year-old child named Alexa, created a website, Alexa is a human.
On it, she says, "Imagine your child is being bullied, but you can't help them. Imagine if the bullying continues from school, to home, to the car, and to stores, and you can't find a safe place. Imagine it evolves into complete strangers continually bullying your child in public. Just imagine. We don't have to."
Little Massachusetts Alexa isn't alone. A 2021 Washington Post article by Alexa Juliana Ard (she goes mostly by Juliana now), spotlighted how people named Alexa are experiencing insults, degrading comments, being treated as servants, and even being forced to change their names by their employers so as not to interfere with Alexa devices in their offices.
Normalization of command
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