People may say alarming things while practicing their lines for a play, too. You can probably think of other plausible reasons. But Amazon workers can't know the context.
If Amazon workers hear something that sounds like a situation the cops should intervene in, they're in a tough situation. Not calling the cops could mean letting someone die. Calling the cops could embarrass someone or, somewhat less likely but possible, get someone killed because the situation unintentionally escalates.
Calling the cops definitely draws attention to the fact that Amazon was listening in the first place, which I would argue is a good thing and which Amazon would really like you to forget.
My feeling is that for the sake of the workers' humanity, they should be allowed to call the cops if they are concerned about the user's safety; otherwise you're asking them to ignore their conscience, which is dehumanizing and likely to haunt them.
And if users plan to say alarming things, they should turn off their AI microphones first. Having them know to do this brings healthy attention to the true nature of the devices.
If Amazon workers hear something that sounds like a situation the cops should intervene in, they're in a tough situation. Not calling the cops could mean letting someone die. Calling the cops could embarrass someone or, somewhat less likely but possible, get someone killed because the situation unintentionally escalates.
Calling the cops definitely draws attention to the fact that Amazon was listening in the first place, which I would argue is a good thing and which Amazon would really like you to forget.
My feeling is that for the sake of the workers' humanity, they should be allowed to call the cops if they are concerned about the user's safety; otherwise you're asking them to ignore their conscience, which is dehumanizing and likely to haunt them.
And if users plan to say alarming things, they should turn off their AI microphones first. Having them know to do this brings healthy attention to the true nature of the devices.