Why people of color probably shouldn’t get the new Amazon Halo | Hacker News Reader

Why people of color probably shouldn’t get the new Amazon Halo

cybernews.com

8 pointsbmcn20209 comments

So the article never states any problems specific to the Amazon Halo and people of color.

The argument presented is that both Law enforcement and AI discriminate against POC. Amazon collaborates with law enforcement and Halo uses "AI", therefore Amazon Halo is bad for POC.

As the author - yes, that's kind of the point (sorry if that didn't come across). Halo is a symptom of this disease, unchecked Amazon/etc/capitalist data collection technology that promises much but delivers much worse. Halo is the latest example of this, and unfortunately won't be the last. Simply put: POC or people in general shouldn't get this, not unless we have independent guarantees of security and protections for all, including marginalized communities.

Thanks for chiming in! I definitely learned more about how amazon processes voice data, which is enough to make me avoid such devices.

I did think that the article tried to cover too much ground. In particular, the aspect of AI failing to detect POC seemed to be an unnecessary addition, as I'm not sure how it relates to the Halo.

Thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it. I see what you mean (now that I've stepped away from it).

I will definitely take this on board.

>Tone is a voice analysis tool that uses machine learning “to analyze energy and positivity in a customer’s voice so they can better understand how they may sound to others, helping improve their communication and relationships.”

well nobody should get the damn thing, it sounds like they're trying to turn people into smiling customer service zombies, did the people at Amazon read Brave New World and thought Soma was something they should actually build?

"All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects"

> AI’s failure at recognizing marginalized groups

There's a remarkable technology with 100% accuracy: the Brooklyn yuppie.

People of what color?

Obviously those darn fluorescent yellow people.

Their bright colors will mess up the sensors

If not rhetorical - non-white people.

Edit: typo

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