COMPUTERS
DON'T SLEEP By Corrine Jensen
Who's cont r ol l ing your
l if e? You, or ar t if icial
Int el l igence?
R olling over, I yank my
blanket over my face,
flinching as its cotton surface
brushes my cheek more closely
resembling sandpaper than the
cloud I expected. Despite its
thick material, I found the
blanket would to no avail help
muffle out my brother ?s piercing
screeches. Jordan was yelling
again. Last week, he lost the
privileges of his Alexa in
consequence of his own
disobedience. At the time, he
repetitively asked his Amazon
Echo question after question:
?Alexa, what is a dinosaur??
?Alexa, do you have a best
friend??
?Alexa, do you sleep??
"I f el l asl eep t hat
night t al king wit h my
br ot her . Lying on his
bedr oom f l oor , I
r eal ized somet hing about
Al exa: t hat she doesn?t
sl eep."
Continuing in this manner for
nearly ten minutes, avoiding
getting dressed for bed, and
showing no intention of ceasing,
Mom grew frustrated with the
Jordan, a kindergartener, talks to his mom's Alexa in the kitchen , asking
her what Pi Day is. The Amazon Echo has become a part of his every day
life. Each night he asks Alexa to play his bedtime play-list. He can't sleep
without her in the room. "Alexa can do anything," he commented, "she's
my friend."
child. Consequently, she walked is included within those
into his room, unplugged Alexa, restricted expenses. Dad didn?t
and told him he would have to do anything wrong at work, in
earn her back. Since that time, fact, he did quite the opposite.
our family has experienced a Over the course of the past
long week of late nights. six-months, Dad has been
working on a special project for
Tonight, Jordan?s unwavering
the company? a bot. He spent
complaints sliced through the
shelter of my blankets clearly:
countless nights, working
unpaid overtime, often pushing
?Mom! MOM! Mommy! Did I
aside his regular activities, to
earn Alexa today? MOM??
train this smart computer to do
Abandoning any remaining hope
for a peaceful sleep, I threw his job with precision.
away the fabric coverings, Nevertheless, when his
superiors realized the bot would
allowing them to collect in a
heap at the edge of the bed, and soon be complete, they
downsized the staff accordingly,
swung my bare feet towards the
wood floor. A shiver rushed eliminating my father ?s
through my whole being as my employment.
toes met the cold surface. I fell asleep that night talking
Since Dad lost his job last week, with my brother. Lying on his
we have been trying to make bedroom floor, I realized
some price cuts, I guess heating something about Alexa: that she
doesn?t sleep. She doesn?t need to
because she is just a computer.
She doesn?t charge for her time.
She doesn?t get angry when you
yell at her, and she certainly
doesn?t mind talking to you
throughout the duration of the
night. At that moment, the
unforgiving floor, creating knots in
my back, I wanted to surrender
my job to Alexa in exchange for
my human sleep. Lacking
electrical makeup, my body
discovers limitations, ordinarily,
finding it impossible to work
endlessly for the benefit of others.
My time is valuable? and so is my
dad?s.
A month before superiors
eliminated his position, Dad
praised the bot endlessly. ?This is
going to change everything!? he?d
say, always excited about the next
improved skill or solved
miscoding. As children, we had
grown to find it customary to
listen as Dad elaborated on how
he had solved a problem with his
bot that day over family dinner.
His salad growing soggy as he
talked. At the time, we praised the
bot, we cheered for the bot, and,
moreover, we wanted the bot to
succeed.
In my mind, I could almost see the
shock emerge on my parents?
faces. ?Because Daddy loves the
bot sweetheart. It?s almost like his
baby.? Mom explained, her slow
words signaled tears threatening
to break as she spoke.
Then why would the baby hurt
him? Why put so much work and
time into something that would
claim your career? Wouldn?t it be
easier to just feed the computer a
bad code shutting down the thing
completely consequently
preserving your place in society?
Maybe, I?ll never know why we
give our lives to these computers
that will never appreciate our
sleepless nights nor our
unwavering determination to
decode their secrets? why we give
our lives to these computers that
don?t
care.
TheNext Phasein
t heDigit al
Revol ut ion:
Int el l igent Tool s,
Pl at f or ms,
Gr owt h,
Empl oy ment
John Zysm an and M ar tin
Kenney of the Com m unications
of the ACM infor m the gener al
population of the futur e of
Ar tificial intelligence in their
ar ticle "The Next Phase in the
Digital Revolution: Intelligent
Tools, Platfor m s, Gr ow th,
Em ploym ent." They expr ess
that the futur e of our economy
is center ed ar ound the futur e of
our technology: "Digital
technology deter m ines how
(and even w hether ) people
w or k as m uch as it deter m ines
how infor m ation pr oduces
econom ic activity."

However, folding clean laundry

last week, I overheard an
uncustomary conversation
between my sister and my
parents: ?Why didn?t you just kill
AMAZON'SVOICEASSISTANT
the bot daddy?? my sister, not yet
ten years of age, asked innocently.
ANDHERRELATIONSHIPWITH
YOURCHILD
CNN Business w r iter , Sam antha M ur phy Kelly, tells of her 20
m onth old's r elationship w ith their Am azon Echo. "To
Cam er on," she com m ents, "Alexa is the house DJ, the
r em inder to take the lasagna out of the oven and the one
w ho dim s the lights. W hen Alexa r esponds, he sm iles."
"Alexa" w as one of his fir st four w or ds.