Siri, Alexa and Co stress users over time
Regular, intensive use of smart voice assistants over an extended period of time can cause stress. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at Ruhr University Bochum in their latest study.
RUB researcher Sascha Alavi, together with colleagues from the University of Neuchâtel, conducted surveys with more than 1,000 users of intelligent voice assistants as well as qualitative in-depth interviews with eleven users. The results show that many of the respondents attribute an almost human mind to the intelligent personal assistants.
"So our study results initially confirm a thoroughly positive effect of the human-technology relationship," says Alavi. On the other hand, the team was also able to show for the first time that this attribution of human characteristics to technology can have negative effects.
First honeymoon, then problem
"According to our study, about 30 percent of users also sometimes feel that their identity is threatened by the systems. They perceive the assistants as rivals. They worry about their independence, see their privacy at risk," Alavi explains. These damaging effects are particularly frequent when there is already a close, long-term relationship between the person and the assistance system.
"In the first eight months, there are no problems. You could talk about a 'honeymoon effect,'" Alavi says. After that, the stressful effect sets in, he said. "For about 20 percent of consumers, intensive use of artificial intelligence assistants over an eight-month period affects their well-being," the researcher said. The stress stems mainly from people's worries that such technologies could one day replace them, he said. (pte)
