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Does it cook? Clean the bathroom? Shampoo the carpets? Wash the dishes? Do the laundry? Groom the dog? Replace human or pet companionship? Encourage independence? Protect privacy? Encourage socialization ? Give a rat's ass whether you live or die? Take up precious time? Promote laziness? Create further isolation in households? The lemmings march willingly to the seaside cliff.
It provides excellent practice for your future life in the glorious "facility." An advanced model is on the way: it can change your diaper, tie you to the bed, and force-feed you.
Either way, everything you ask or type in is recorded and stored. Asking a question is faster and more convenient than typing it on a keyboard.
Well, not necessarily.
Voice recognition isn't a perfect science even today. And for anyone who doubts that, try calling a company that uses an automated phone menu system that keeps saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't get that." I usually end up shouting "Operator!" to make the system default to a live human being.
The only really useful benefit I can see for an elderly person is in case of an emergency. It can call someone or 911 if you are hurt and can't get to your phone by your voice command.
We elderly people have more going on in our lives than emergencies. Sometimes we want to order a pizza.
My nephew has Alexa and it operates his whole house I think. One night we were watching TV and a Domino's pizza commercial came on. The one guy yells, "Alexa, order a Domino's pizza!". My nephew's Alexa answered back that it was being ordered and he had to really quick tell her NOT to! I laughed and laughed.
I still wonder if it's listening in to everything I do and reporting it back to Google, LOL.
Sorta. "Smart speakers and the companies that sell them store a lot of data about you. Even if they don't keep a record of everything you say, Amazon, Google and Apple have vast stores of data about your activities, your commands, and your questions."
The only really useful benefit I can see for an elderly person is in case of an emergency. It can call someone or 911 if you are hurt and can't get to your phone by your voice command.
My best friend has been almost completely deaf from childhood and has gotten two cochlear implants in the past 10 years. Her elderly mother moved in with them recently and has a bedroom on the first floor of the house, while my friend's and her husband's is on the second floor.
My friend wants a way for her mother to alert her at night if she needs help, but a sound signal, like a baby monitor, won't work because when she takes off the implants' external part to sleep, she can't hear, period. So they're looking into configuring a smart speaker to turn on a flashing light in my friend's bedroom that would wake her so that she knows she's needed if her hearing husband is on a business trip.
My father, who has Parkinson’s and is in a wheelchair, makes great use of his echo. He can use echo to turn lights off and on, and dim or brighten them, instead of struggling to move from his chair to his wheelchair to move over to the light switch. His shaky hands have difficulty with remote controls, so we bought an Amazon element tv for him and my mother, and he now can control most functions with his voice. Holding his kindle is becoming more difficult, so he’s glad he can ask echo to read his books to him, when that time comes. He uses the music feature a lot, and has a subscription to prime music. He asks it for the weather and sports scores, now that he uses his computer less and less. Although he has a speaker phone that he can still operate, it’s good to know that he could just direct echo to call any number in the contact list if he’s feeling weak, or if he were to drop his phone. He’s in assisted living, but echo allows him to control more of his environment without asking for help. He and my mother hope that by the time my age group is dealing with these illnesses, echo will be a robot that can help you move from wheelchair to a chair, bed, toilet or shower seat. And bring you a glass of water or help you get dressed. Might as well dream big.
It would be great to know the specific brand. We have the Echo, not Google.
I couldn't remember precisely as my son was talking about all brands in one conversation. Per him, one is far worse than the others. I felt it best to not name a specific brand since I wasn't 100% certain which was the worst, or best, of the lot.
Oh, and for small business owners who may be using one of these rather than hiring a living office assistant.; be aware you may be in violation of Clint Confidentiality Laws since these devices can store all conversations to an off-site server.
My father, who has Parkinson’s and is in a wheelchair, makes great use of his echo. He can use echo to turn lights off and on, and dim or brighten them, instead of struggling to move from his chair to his wheelchair to move over to the light switch. His shaky hands have difficulty with remote controls, so we bought an Amazon element tv for him and my mother, and he now can control most functions with his voice. Holding his kindle is becoming more difficult, so he’s glad he can ask echo to read his books to him, when that time comes. He uses the music feature a lot, and has a subscription to prime music. He asks it for the weather and sports scores, now that he uses his computer less and less. Although he has a speaker phone that he can still operate, it’s good to know that he could just direct echo to call any number in the contact list if he’s feeling weak, or if he were to drop his phone. He’s in assisted living, but echo allows him to control more of his environment without asking for help. He and my mother hope that by the time my age group is dealing with these illnesses, echo will be a robot that can help you move from wheelchair to a chair, bed, toilet or shower seat. And bring you a glass of water or help you get dressed. Might as well dream big.
I read somewhere that Japan has already developed a robot that acts as a personal assistant for the elderly or infirm in their home.
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Sometimes we want to order a pizza.
"Smart speakers and the companies that sell them store a lot of data about you. Even if they don't keep a record of everything you say, Amazon, Google and Apple have vast stores of data about your activities, your commands, and your questions." 
