Google Home A.I. assistant devices will reportedly notice if owners say “please” and “thank you,” and will give more cheery replies, as part of a newly implemented feature called “pretty please.”
The feature, called “Pretty Please,” was announced in May, and recently implemented in Google Home devices.
According to Tech Crunch, devices “will be a bit more cheery” if you use proper manners while issuing commands.
“If, for example, you say ‘Hey Google, please set a timer for 10 minutes’, Google Assistant will respond ‘Thanks for asking so nicely! 10 minutes, starting now.’ To be clear: it’s totally optional,” reported Tech Crunch. “Prefer to be curt? That’s okay — Assistant won’t chastise you. But if these are habits you’re trying to instill in a little one or polish up yourself, Assistant will respond in kind.”
In April, Amazon implemented a similar feature in its Alexa-powered devices.
Last month, psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein warned, “you have the Google home device which they are trying to get people to put in every room in their house… The Google home device, like Amazon’s Alexa, gives you the answer to a question. That produces enormous shifts as well in people’s thinking and behavior.”
“The Google home device, which Google is right this minute trying to convince us to put in every single room in our house, is always listening, it never stops listening, or recording,” he added in April. “So believe me, you have no idea the extent of surveillance.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.