You mind your manners around voice assistants
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Voice assistants are now an integral part of our daily lives. We have regular conversations with them, be it when they bark orders or request information from the Internet. However, it often seems a bit tight if you don’t say “Please” or “Thank you” in these chats.
We wanted to know from our readers whether they feel the same way. We asked in this survey if they say these two magic words when chatting with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri or other assistants. Read on for the results.
Do you say “please” and “thank you” to voice assistants?
Results
Many readers have something to say about this survey. We have received over 5,500 responses since it was first published on September 30th.
Unsurprisingly, our readers are a well-behaved bunch. Almost a quarter (24.8%) of readers never forget to say “Please” and “Thank you” to their voice assistants. Notably, a similar number (23.9%) suggests the opposite, indicating that they never use these words when talking to their devices. Interestingly, more than half of respondents (51.3%) use these terms “sometimes” when talking to voice assistants.
Looking at readers’ comments, the use of “thank you” is more frequent than “please” as it also serves as the natural end of an order. Some also believe that using these two words improves recognition systems. Using these words can trigger hidden reactions or Easter eggs as well.
There are a lot of comments on this topic so be sure to read the selections below.
Your comments
- Eric Braun: Please, sometimes a thank you is more common because it interrupts listening to another request.
- Bishop: I always ask politely because when the machines become self aware and the robot overlords take over, they will remember that I was always nice to them. Lol.
- Needa: Always be kind to a robot / AI. Do not forget.
- PMOttawa: All the time, without thinking. And I suspect I am not alone because the Google Assistant has a specific answer if you say thank you and are a Canadian. “Impressive! It’s not for nothing that they say Canadians are so polite.”
- Slappy Mcgee: I say thanks for stopping alarms and timers and when GS provides detailed / helpful information.
- Evie: As much as I would with a normal person. At some point it will no longer be possible to recognize what is human and what is machine. So do we treat machines like humans or humans like machines?
- Brett: Not me, what’s the point? If they were really human I would.
- Martin S. Shepherd: I just say these things to the Google Assistant because I say them as a normal language pattern all the time. I was taught to be polite. If I stop doing certain times, I will likely forget to say these things at other times – for example, when talking to a person. So it is better to keep my good habits!
- Drone9: I don’t talk to objects. Maybe you do.
- Ajedi32: I don’t even speak to the assistant in full sentences unless I have to. “Weather” works just as well as “Would you please tell me the weather outside?” So why waste time?
- daelos: I mostly swear by mine. The stupid thing never gets right.
- Greg Harkay: I do when my 4 year old is within earshot.
That’s it for this poll. Thank you for your votes and comments. If you have any thoughts about the survey results or the use of “please” and “thank you” with voice assistants, please leave a comment below.
