"Alexa doesn't have that many feelings": Children's understanding of AI through interactions with smart speakers in their homes

Understand

As voice-based Conversational Assistants (CAs), including Alexa, Siri, Google Home, have become commonly embedded in households, many children now routinely interact with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems.

• It is important to research children's experiences with consumer devices which use AI techniques because these shape their understanding of AI and its capabilities.
• We conducted a mixed-methods study (questionnaires and interviews) with primary-school children aged 6-11 in Scotland to establish children's understanding of how voice-based CAs work, how they perceive their cognitive abilities, agency and other human-like qualities, their awareness and trust of privacy aspects when using CAs and what they perceive as appropriate verbal interactions with CAs.
• Most children overestimated the CAs' intelligence and were uncertain about the systems' feelings or agency.