It is an exciting time to see how things are measuring up against the sci-fi we grew up with. There aren’t many jetpacks around, but there are plenty of robots. And they talk – a lot. But if you’ve ever felt misunderstood by a voicebot, you are not alone. For me this brings up some questions:

• How well do we really want to be understood by machines; and how well do they have to know us in order to understand what we want?
• Why does it feel so different to speak to a voicebot and what do we expect to hear back?

To explore these ideas, Chloe Veltman and I have been collaborating on The Voicebot Chronicles. The Voicebot Chronicles is an experiment; you might think of it as an interactive podcast. It features both in-depth reporting and interactivity, and can be experienced using Alexa or Google Assistant.

You don’t just listen to The Voicebot Chronicles, you also are a part of it.