[omnicognate]

You don't teach children to use Alexa. If Alexa is there they just talk to it.

Putting a device into homes that is voice activated, unlocked and usable by anybody capable of speech carries with it some duty of care not to, you know, tell kids to play with mains power. Amazon don't disagree with this.

[jdmichal]

> You don't teach children to use Alexa. If Alexa is there they just talk to it.

I'll second this. My 5 year old talks to my father's Google device when we're visiting. We never taught him to -- he just learned from grandpa.

[annoyingnoob]

Yes, kids learn a lot by observing others. Your 5 year did not talk to a Google device before he saw someone else do it. Kids learn just from watching you, its still teaching and learning. Saying OK Google to electronic devices is not innate in humans.

[jdmichal]

I guess "teaching" can be done passively, though I feel like the context of my comment made it clear that I meant "teach" as a purposeful action. Maybe you can read it as, "we never instructed him to", if being pedantic about the word "teach" is preventing this conversation from moving forward.

[cpuguy83]

Just because they can figure out how to use it doesn't mean you don't teach them how to use it. In particular what to do with the information they get from it.

[gruez]

>Putting a device into homes that is voice activated, unlocked and usable by anybody capable of speech carries with it some duty of care not to, you know, tell kids to play with mains power.

I agree. That's why we should have mandatory faceID on smartphones/tablets/computers/books, so we can positively identify the user's age before allowing access to it. If you fail the age test, your access will be restricted to kid-friendly websites with curated content.