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Thursday, January 6, 2022

Sassed by Google!

The other day, my husband and I were sitting at the big farm table he built decades ago. I have a love/hate relationship with that table: I love how I can spread out crafts, foods, and sewing on it, but I dislike how very massive it is. We have a "great room" in this current house, and it sits in there, near the kitchen. But for the usual formal dining rooms of suburban homes of the 1960s and 1970s, it is too large. 

Anyhoo, we were sitting there, and as usual my phone was near me. We were chit-chatting about something, and suddenly the Google Girl Voice boomed out something about whatever it was we were talking about. I hadn't queued it up in any way, and I don't have the Google Assistant enabled, but there it was, talking and talking. 

I told my husband, "Gee, that Google is always listening. It's like a spy."

Oh boy! Suddenly the voice, with a sound of anger, said, "We are not always listening."

I about fell off the bench. I was shocked! The voice went on, something like this (I was so shocked I could barely attend to what it was saying):

"Google Assistant is activated only when initiated...blah blah blah...we do not listen...blah blah blah...privacy something privacy privacy something....blah blah...You can open the Google Something and delete any conversation at any time."

I yelled, "You just proved you are listening!" and then I am afraid I said a lot of bad words mixed in with the Prayer of St. Michael.

And in the snippiest tones, Google Girl Voice then said, "Do you want to delete this conversation?" and I said, "YES!"

I'm pretty suspicious as a person, but having an argument with the Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) Karen Bot really shook me up. I was SASSED by an invisible robot spy!

I have also been sassed by an AI on the phone. I called an office, only to be met with a huge number of menu options. Press this, press that, and I mumbled something rude, like "What dumb-butt programmed this?" and the phone shot back, "Why, thank you!" in the most sarcastic tones.

The local university campus has a lot of actual physical "bots" that hurry to the dorms and offices from the various food and toiletries vendors on and around campus. Students and staff can order lunch, hygiene items, and so forth, and off will go a bot, rolling along with the students on the pathways, seeming almost alive! But the campus bots are friendly and polite! They don't sass anyone and they stop if you need to go in front of them!

Before Christmas I got some video and photos of them, but I'm too old to keep up with their nimble wheels. There are two in the photo below, both to the right of the pole.


I needed some time with nature after the run-in with Google! I went to church and there were so many lovely bouquets in honor of the Saints and of the Epiphany. I took photos of some lovely pale roses, and some bright mixed bouquets. I don't know if it's because of our large Hispanic population, but the parish churches just burst with flowers. There are always armfuls of roses at the base of each statue of Mary outside, too.

I hope if you are having a cold or dreary day, that these will brighten it! 




Have you ever been sassed by an Artificial Intelligence entity?

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly






39 comments :

  1. No, I haven't. And if it happens, it will scare the beejesus out of me!!!

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    1. I am shaken up a bit! I hope it won't happen to you. Sic one of your witches on it if it tries anything!

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  2. Yes, every once in a while my Google assistant will butt in without being prompted. It is kind of scary!
    I would love a big table to craft on. I need to use my dining room table. Luckily I don't cook often, but I hate to have such a mess in plain view.
    Beautiful flowers. Cold and dreary in northern Ohio. I think winter has arrived but thankfully no snow!

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    1. I am glad no snow yet. I can recall a wall of (shoveled) snow from the garage to the street and the front path in Ohio. It was like a snow maze.

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  3. Oh my gosh, that is so strange, Holly. I'm glad you said the prayer to St. Michael. The roses at your church are so pretty. The cream and pale pink are good colors for the new year, as the sun isn't shining yet, and the blooms aren't growing abundantly yet until Spring. Then, we will see some color. But the flowers at your church have already given you some color!

    Have a good rest of the week, Holly.

    ~Sheri

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    1. ps.....I've had a big farm like table also in my dining room. It even had a middle leaf, but with this small house, I had to take it out. But I love how sturdy it is, and BIG. Your big farm table sounds nice. I'd love to see it sometime, especially since your husband made it. How special is that?

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    2. I will have to unload all the "junk" I have stored on the end of the table and take a photo! Husband also made an armoire for me. The farm table was made for his second wife, and has a lot of mushy stuff to her on the underside. LOL.

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    3. The prayer just sprang to my lips, Thanks Be to God, all of the Angels and Saints, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for all Their protection!

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  4. This is scary. I haven't activated Google assistant or Siri on my iPhone or MacBook Air laptop and I don't think I need to. The world is getting scarier and scarier by the minute and we don't even know the half of it.

    Even security apps are spying on us. The flowers are beautiful. Mother Mary must be pleased.

    It's been very mild here today. We had rain over night. I can see green grass on my front lawn.

    Take care and stay well.
    Hugs,
    Julia

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    1. I don't blame you for not activating the "assistants." I didn't think I had, either. How amazing to have the green grass still there in winter! That would be cheering to see!

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  5. Oh dear! How awful! Sorry you had that experience. Probably it kicked by a word sound.

    I would save a copy of the creepy intrusion. The bot things are creepy. I have no voice person thing in my home. I don't trust them.

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    1. I don't have them, either! I think you are wise to distrust them! That's why it was so very weird and scary. I know "it" listens because I get ads targeted to whatever I was talking about, but I haven't had it butt in like that before!

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  6. no but we talked about a certain time type of car and all of a sudden, I started getting ads for that kind of car on my facebook! I do not trust the phones. And no I did not look up that kind of car.
    Cathy

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    1. See, they are listening! They really want to sell things.

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  7. I think I have disabled the Google Assistant or Siri on my phone. I know one day it said something, and I right away went to my settings and disabled it. We don't need that kind of intrusion into our lives, and I am amazed at how many people allow this kind of spying into their homes and don't seem at all concerned about the consequences. Maybe they never read the book 1984. It was required reading in my senior English class back in 1968. Scary how much has come true. ANyway, I would LOVE to see a picture of your farmhouse table. I love big tables and wish I had room for one. But we don't do as much entertaining as we used to, so our 5' long table is fine for us, and I add extra tables if needed. I never saw a "bot" like you showed on the college campus before. I am way behind the times I guess. I love the flowers, and I am glad you found a positive and delightful way to get away from the negative experience with the little sassy assistant. LOL. Have a blessed and wonderful rest of your week.

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    1. These bots are from New Zealand! I had never seen any before, either.

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  8. This is why I do not want an Alexa in my house. My daughter has one and tells it to do stuff for her, And I always tell her it is watching her every move. Funny how you said it talked back to you. I noticed lately that when I do Google something, I end up with emails on it or it shows upon my husbands Facebook page...hmmm so how are they doing that???? I also just heard on the radio today that an Italian mob boss in Italy was ratted out by Google Maps. He even told the cops when they arrested him, how did you find me because I have not even spoke to my family in 10 years. Janice

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    1. Wow! Google has its tentacles everywhere, it seems!

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  9. Oh yes... I have had email ads come to me after talking about something with my phone close by.

    Thank you for sharing the flowers.
    xx oo

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    1. They are listening and I guess we are lucky it is just for ads...if politics get mixed up with it I am sure I am doomed, as I am old-fashioned!

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    1. I bet you would have given that invisible robot a piece of your mind!

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  11. No, I have not but, from past experiences, I know “they” are always listening! Those university bots are just too much!

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    1. Some of the bots have faces and carry stuffed animal "pilots" and I thought it was cute, but not so cute in a way...maybe they are conditioning us to find them cute and harmless...while they PLOT!

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  12. I'm quite sure if I would have had your experience with your phone I would have been so freaked out. Might have chucked the phone across the room. THEN what would "she" say?

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    1. Ha ha, you might have gotten a tongue-lashing for "violence to an innocent bot" LOL.

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  13. I think we must be listened to by the computer and/or tv as I was talking to Keith recently about Lucozade and next day there were adverts for it on Facebook! Similarly other things mentioned in conversation . . . I can understand it happening if you have done a search, but otherwise . . . Don't plan a bank robbery out loud is my advice!! We bought an Alexa-style "thing" you plug in and can ask for certain records/music on, and I have unplugged that as I don't trust it.

    That is bizarre, your experiences with the phone and the talk-back Google "bot"!!

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    1. I think they do "listen," and since they are listening, I hope they just use it for ads and not for reporting what they hear "Big Brother" style.

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  14. Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to check everything and turn them off, that's absolutely horrible but then the world is a mess isn't it. I'd like to go back in time. I know we didn't have the material things but we were free and talked to one another. Think 50's and 60's. lol
    Briony
    x

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    1. I sure do miss when neighborhoods were neighborhoods. We knew everyone on our block, and most everyone else for blocks around...and we TALKED in person...

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  15. I talk to my phone everytime I use it. a couple of times, I tapped the microphone to talk a text and stopped while it was activated and bob and i had a whole conversation and it typed every word we said. lucky for me, i didnot send the text. the only time i was answered was once while asking a question, i said a curse word, can't remembe why and she said, that was not polite. she did not hear me, they are programmed for curse words to say that. i do know they are in listening mode, because once i said something and prime changed to a movie from what we were watching. i said the word. it is totally scary that I can talk to the phone or computer or tv, but i love it. at least we can turn it off if we don't want it to listen, but then I can't ask my phone how old Brad Pitt is while watching a movie he is in. I have never had it jump in a conversation OR sass me

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    1. Oh wow, I didn't know it would shame you for saying a bad word! I have forgotten, I do have something "on" and that's the TV remote, I do speak into it to change the channel. How strange that it typed the whole text conversation!

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  16. That I know of - no. I never activated Siri and disabled all social apps and as much tracking settings as I could on the phone, don't have any home "assistants", etc. The camera is covered and microphone turned off on my computer. I suspect they get enough info on me by seeing what websites I visit. But I will say they don't do very good analysis - I rarely see ads for needlework/sewing/quilting, they seem to think I want clothes, shoes, insurance, cars, etc.

    When you say you didn't enable the assistant, I have to wonder if that just means it's not supposed to respond, but still is always listening? As I said, I don't have one. But I do know those services will hide behind semantics and nit picking meanings.

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    1. I did not turn on the Assistant but it is sitting there on my phone SOMEWHERE because they do not have a way to remove it that I could find. I don't like how Google will link everything and this old lady can't find a way to unlink them and get rid of some of it.

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  17. To quote one of my favorite lions: "I do believe, I do believe, I DO believe!" In fact, I believe so much that I used to put my phone in the microwave when I got home...not to cook, mind you, but it prevents any untoward listening. I don't always remember though but figure if they want to use that sort of info against me, they will just as likely as not to shake their heads and walk away from the crazy lady. I do, however, use a browser that does not "track" so I don't get unwanted ads, etc. Beautiful flowers...we are cold...very cold... negative digits cold. ~Robin~

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  18. Sorry I'm late visiting. I've had no internet or phone since Monday, but stopped by to say Holly that is just downright scary. Chalk up one more reason NOT to have a cell phone. I'd be scared, too if that happened to me.

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  19. My husband has been telling me this is possible, but I didn't pay much attention, but now I sure am - kind of frightening - thanks so much for your post!

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  20. Dear Holly - this is shocking, almost (though I do believe it) unbelievable and makes me angry. I looked up "sass" - and no, I never was sassed by a machine, but sometimes by a customer consultant on the phone (though there are many who tell me the story of their life, which is strange too :-)
    Come to think of it: I sometimes sass a machine!

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  21. Holly my friend, Are you okay? I pray that you'll mend from your awful experience and come back to your blogging 'frens'. Love and warm hugs, GM

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