My battle with Alexa

My first brush with Artificial Intelligence was the Furby – that hideous speaking Gonk with eyes that blinked. You could hear the cogs turning. It felt basic, even for the 2000s. My techie ex got it for me as a birthday present. Like babies, this infant technology responded to clapping. It was weird and dull. Having exhausted its repertoire, I discarded it beside the sofa. One night, weeks later, we were sitting together and heard the whirr of its eyes opening, and it just said, the once, clearly in its strange little voice, ‘Boring’. We laughed. That was as good as it got.

Alexa, though, is the real deal: my android in a can, my useful housemate. I consult her often. I have accidentally called my dog Alexa, but never Alexa by the dog’s name (although I don’t speak to my dog about anything that doesn’t concern her).