Thursday, April 13, 2017

Turning your devices against you.  A prelude to SkyNet?
Burger King’s New TV Ad Will Trigger Your Google Devices Without Permission
Imagine sitting at home on your couch, watching television, and a rather innocuous advertisement from Burger King comes on.  A young male Burger King employee looks directly into the camera and tells you that 15 seconds isn't enough time to explain all the ingredients in the Whopper sandwich.  The camera pulls in close, and he says, "Okay Google, what is the Whopper burger?"
The Google Home device near your TV will then respond, "The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100% beef with no preservatives or fillers, topped with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayonnaise, served on a sesame-seed bun."  That is the first sentence for the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper.
It is also an advanced (and a bit creepy) new twist in the future of advertising for brands like Burger King, which is a fast-food concept owned by Restaurant Brands.  Burger King says the new ad is a national campaign that will intentionally trigger the artificial intelligence technology of Google Home devices to search "Whopper Sandwich."


What does Jeff know that other retailers don’t? 
Bezos says Artificial Intelligence to fuel Amazon's success
Amazon.com is embracing artificial intelligence to deliver goods more quickly, enhance its voice-activated Alexa assistant and create new tools sold to others through its cloud-computing division, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in his annual shareholder letter.
Changes ushered in by artificial intelligence and machine learning will help the companies that embrace them and put up barriers for those who don’t, the world's second- richest man wrote in a 1,700-word letter released Wednesday.

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