Amazon Alexa voice assistant could soon make 999 calls
I could see this technology making a major difference not just to personal security but also to the challenges facing vulnerable people in their own homes needing medical help. I think a number of proprietorial aids and adaptations could be deployed to provide cheap and effective support for vulnerable people living at home. In the meantime the potential of Alexa to help in this regard is illustrated through the lens of this story, which tells us:
Scotland Yard is developing new technology that would allow victims of crime to use voice-activated personal assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, to contact the police.
Under plans being drawn up by Britain’s largest force, people would simply have to shout for help – and any compatible in-range technology would notify the police.
A report seen by The Sunday Times reveals that Scotland Yard think voice assistants – currently used by around 3m Brits – will “change the face of police contact”.
It states that the plans being drawn up by the Metropolitan Police Force would allow “an incoming demand from a home automation bot, rather than from a human”.
“The contact may be triggered by the human issuing a command to their bot, or it may be automatically generated by the bot through AI [artificial intelligence,” the report states.