Do we really want Google listening to our intimate conversations, asks Jon Honeyball

And here you’ll find unexpected results, which might be very quirky but also fun.

To do this processing requires deep natural-language support, and that requires cloud processing of millions of voices. It simply isn’t viable to get each member of the family to train the back-end engine – it has to just work. And that requires careful analysis of pitch, timing and rhythm in voice patterns. Once you can do that, you can then transcribe conversations that are happening in the family, extract the meaningful content and act upon it appropriately.

At this point, we’ve almost reached the nirvana of the Star Trek “Computer, plot a course to Alpha Centuri” that we loved so much in the past millennium.

But a recording, and deep analysis of everything said in the home? Knowing who said what, and to whom and when, might seem like a fantastic tool for settling a family argument. “Computer, play back when Peter said he was going to tidy his bedroom” sounds like the stuff of parental delight. But the potential privacy implications here are enough to make your head explode. Just how much data must be kept, and by whom? Where will it be kept? Who will have access to it?

I might not worry about GCHQ listening in because it’s unlikely to hear me utter the phrase, “and on Thursday, we’re going to bomb No 10 Downing Street”. But the replay of a promise to mow the lawn, or to really honestly tidy the garage last weekend, might be the sort of thing that quickly brings marital disharmony.

No, I’m happy with pressing a button and barking my command. A solution that just listens in is the sort of thing that goes too far, irrespective of how useful such a service might be. When you’re old enough to remember the time before the internet, some things are just too hard to give up.

Maybe even today’s generation of Facebook-sharing youth aren’t happy to go down this route. But what about tomorrow’s children? They might have a different view entirely. And who are we to stop them? I’ll continue to watch from afar, on my terms, and will engage on my terms. But I can’t but be truly amazed at what is possible today, and what is coming down the line.

Jon Honeyball is contributing editor of He wonders how well Google’s voice-recognition service will work with Klingon. unfortunately. Email jon@jonhoneyball.com

A solution that just listens in is the sort of thing that goes too far, irrespective of how useful the service is