Some months ago a company called Mattel came up with a Barbie doll that could interact with children and talk right back to them, just like the voice assistants, Siri, Google Voice and Cortana,
that are fast becoming part of life. Cute? Not really. Soon after it was launched, it was found that the doll could understand a fair bit of context and respond accordingly such as
making suggestions to kids or encouraging them to do something. This was greeted with a more than a little alarm by adults who worried at what the sweet looking doll could influence children to think
and do – and especially, buy. In fact the immediate concern was about what would be marketed to the kids that owned these dolls.Read the whole story at BusinessWorld »
