Smart speakers

Smart speakers produce sounds through loudspeakers, and record sound through integrated microphones.

They are sold with a built-in virtual assistant (VA) such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri, that responds to human-voice commands. For instance, people can use their smart speakers to ask a VA to set an alarm, play a particular song or check and report on the weather forecast. 

Smart speakers work like computers connected to the internet and can exchange data with other smart devices, such as smartphones, and other smart home appliances, including thermostats, light sensors or coffee machines. 

Smart speakers are typically used in people’s homes to automate the controls of all kinds of appliances – from the lighting in a particular room, to the heating system, to home entertainment devices (radio and TV) and security systems – and monitor their use. 

What are the benefits of this technology?

Smart speakers can simplify and speed up mundane tasks. Older people and those struggling with vision or mobility may find smart speakers easier to use than smartphones or computers.

What are the risks of this technology?

One risk of using smart speakers is the fact that the companies producing, selling and managing the device might share users’ personal data with third-parties, such as social media companies.

Another major risk concerns race and gender bias, as VA software is largely trained using data from white male voices. This may result in VAs having a poorer understanding of female voices, people from different ethnic backgrounds, and non-native English speakers.

Additionally, most VAs’ voices are gendered as female, perpetuating the gender stereotypes that portray women as obliging, docile and eager-to-please helpers’.

What are smart devices’?

Smart devices are connected to the internet through a Wi-Fi network and follow the instructions of human voice commands and remote control or other commands coming from smartphones or tablets. Smart devices collect data from their surroundings, through sensors, such as microphones, cameras or GPS receivers. This data is stored, shared with other smart devices or analysed to react automatically to changes in their local environment or to make suggestions to users.