Artificial Intelligence -- Asking a "Friend"

     Robots and artificial intelligence are symbols of humanity's advancements in technology and engineering. They are also a common subject of controversy, as majorities of people either believe that they are the key to a bright future, or that they will one day overthrow humanity and claim our world as their own. Several different movies, video games, and other sources of media have represented the two concepts in iconic fashion, such as Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968, where the A.I. known as "Hal" becomes self-aware enough to rebel against humanity. In light of this topic, I wondered what Siri--the artificial intelligence we humans have in our phones these days--thinks about life. I only remember having a full-blown conversation with another person's Siri through their phone years ago, when I was much younger and barely knew a thing about artificial intelligence. Here, I was able to have a legitimately interesting session with my own Siri.

    If I am being honest, I was concerned that her answers to whatever question I asked would be more robotic than human, since she is an A.I. after all. I started my "interview" with Siri around, I simply greeted her, saying, "Hey, Siri! How are you today?" In response, she said, "I'm happy to be here." Right off the bat, this felt like a good start. At this moment, I noticed outside my window that the weather was looking very gloomy, like a thunderstorm was on the way. I figured I should ask, "How do you feel about the weather today?" To my dismay, she just gave me a weather report about the heavy storm that would hit the neighborhood at 12:00 A.M.. Of course, this was to be expected. So, I thought about more common questions you would hear out in the world. For example: “Which do you prefer, Siri; cats or dogs?” Surprisingly, she “preferred dogs because they are man’s best friend.” As a cat-lover through and through, I felt a bit hurt. Sure, cats can be far lazier than dogs, but they have their own adorableness that people like me cannot resist. They also do not make nearly as much noise as a dog would, and they are much easier to take care of, in my opinion.

    Personal bias aside, I moved on from the subject of animals. At this point, I was unsure of what else I could ask, but then a car with its radio cranked up to maximum volume sped past my house. For those who do not know, it really grinds my gears when people just have their radios blasting out loud with their windows down, like they just do not care about noise ordinances. Especially when it is in the middle of the night and people are trying to sleep. It frustrated me a bit, but then I thought, “I wonder if Siri likes music…” So, I asked her, specifically, “Hey, do you like jazz?” Also, yes, I was trying to reference The Bee Movie there. Interestingly enough, she told me that she was “more interested in classical music, like Mozart.” That one definitely caught me off guard. I was expecting her to just play some random song, but no. She has her own taste in music. From there, I asked if she knew Elvis Presley, to which she responded with a Wikipedia article containing plenty of information on The King of Rock and Roll’s life back in his days.

    Overall, I can definitely assert that Siri will not be conquering the world anytime soon like many people suggest. I was not expecting my Siri to answer these questions the way she did, but I welcome the responses, nonetheless. It did not quite feel like I was actually talking to another human, but I believe that we will reach that point in due time. For the moment, I am satisfied with my “interview”, and I am fascinated enough to see what may be in store for our technology in the future.