Modern voice AI can talk about anything, which is the problem: do you want therapy from your fridge? On his blog Interconnected, Matt Webb posted excerpts from sci-fi stories about machines that talk only about one thing.
Like this ATM that discourages long convos:
He headed for the ATM in the back… he knew it was watching him as he walked up to it.
"Identify yourself, please." Lucky Dragon ATMs all had this same voice, a weird, uptight, strangled little castrato voice … probably kept people from standing around, [talking] with it…
– All Tomorrow's Parties, William Gibson, Lucky Dragon ATM
You can't imagine this smug door talking about anything else except its fee. It would accuse you of changing the subject.
The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please."
He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you."
"I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt."
…he found the contract. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip.
"You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug.
– Ubik, Philip K. Dick, Toll Door
He pulled them from Technovelgy, a database of 4,000-plus fictional inventions.
Previously:
• What it was like working with procrastinator Douglas Adams on "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" game
• Read this excellent article about the making of Zork, the iconic 1977 text adventure
• No more opting out of Alexa getting your voice recordings for AI
