[furyofantares]

I think there can be a nuanced take here.

If I have a hard time with accents and someone has a thick accent, the technology is not too different from the sci-fi babblefish concept, automatic translation for the recipient. It is always presented as an enabling technology.

I have no expectation that sci-fi analysis of a potential technology is correct or complete. But I do think we can think about why this feels so different.

In this case I think neither recipient nor speaker has opted in, and I think deceptively at that. It would feel different if the recipient is turning on an assistive technology because they are having a hard time understanding, or if the speaker is turning on an assistive technology because they are having a hard time doing their job.