Lesson: Why Siri can take over the world

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out loud.

1. Have you ever used SIRI or something similar? How was your experience?
2. How often do you search things on Google?
3. What do you know about artificial intelligence?
4. Do you believe one day computers will be able to feel and love like people do?
5. What has changed in the world because of technologies such as Google and SIRI?
6. Do you believe robots might take over the world in the future?
7. What do you do when you can't access the internet?
8. Are these new technologies necessarily good or might they also be harmful? Explain.
9. What kind of technology would you like to see being developed?
10. Have you seen any science fiction movie that revolves around these issues?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

DT   stuff

DT   joke

DT   flirt

DT   model

DT   apply

DT   ATM

DT   reliable

DT   anticipate

DT   flood

DT   claim

DT   threat

DT   enable

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

ExpandTranscript:

If you got yourself the new Iphone, then you fell in love with the SIRI. Because she's helping you do stuff, like make phone calls. You can joke around with her, you're flirting with her, and she is pretty helpful.
SIRI is unique, and the reason for this is SIRI isn't just voice recognition, SIRI can actually understand language, she knows how language is modeled, and she can apply logic. And this makes her feel far more intelligent and human than anything else. Now, we know from things like ATM's that when machines are as reliable as humans, we'd rather use machines. People are using SIRI way more than Apple anticipated. And SIRI is learning everyday, which is making her smarter and smarter.
So, if Apple opens SIRI to third party developers, there is gonna be a flood of new voice enabled applications. SIRI will help you buy things, make your travel plans, make phone calls for you, she will learn your preferences. SIRI is really gonna become a personal assistant, the beginning of actual artificial intelligence. And this is a big deal. Eric Schmidt, from Google, claimed to the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, that the biggest threat to Google is SIRI, because one day you might stop using Google completely and ask her instead. So, keep an eye on SIRI. She is gonna turn some heads.

Writing practice

Search the web for information on Google Classroom IN ENGLISH! Then, write a few paragraphs explaining what it is and what you think about it.

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