Welcome. I'm Alexa, talking to you through an Amazon echo. Which show, station or

podcast would you like to hear? Play Dance Devotion. Here's Animatronics Dance Devotion.

Dance Devotion with Animatronic.

Alexa, who is Animatronic? Anna Lynch, known by her stage name Animatronic, is an American singer, best known as the female co-lead vocalist

for Siza Sisters.

It's the witching hour, and time to put your devotion in motion.

Yes, that's me, Anamatronic.

Welcome to When the Things Start to Talk on the BBC World Service. I'm going to be exploring whether tech-like

personal assistance such as Amazon's Alexa is being shaped to our lives or are our

lives being shaped to the tech.

Increasing numbers of people are interacting with devices like this one from Amazon

or Google Home or Apple's Siri.

All around us, the everyday world is becoming more connected

through the Internet of Things. So in this program, I want to find out what happens

when those things communicate with each other.

What does it mean for us as humans when the things start to talk to each other?

I'm a big fan of technology if my name is any indication. Yeah, I love robots AI all kinds of technology

I'm very interested in how it affects our daily lives. I am really concerned about what it

means for me personally especially in terms of privacy, of those things

that can't be controlled, data collection, and how it's shared or used.

I don't want to feel manipulated. So let's start with something familiar,

something unthreatening. Let's start with the inside of your fridge.

...