Course info
UCL Chemistry Voice-Activated Assistants Study
The rise of voice-activated assistants (such as Alexa, Google Home etc.)
are becoming commonplace in both our personal & professional lives.
However, at present they are scientifically limited in many areas, such as
their understanding of the subject matter, their quality of answer and the
interpretation of the scientific language that was used.E.g.: What is the
melting point of Ferrocene? : is interpreted as : What is the melting
point of ferry seen?Prof. Ashley George & Dr Dewi Lewis are conducting
data-driven studies within the UCL Chemistry department to better
understand and subsequently address this limitation. They are also
partnering with the Physics department with shared experiences &
learnings.This page makes you aware of the UCL Chemistry study with the
voice activated devices and are consenting that your data activated via
Keywords, such as Alex: questions, and content will be used as part of
this data driven study. The devices may include, but are not limited to,
Alexa & Google Home.The voice-activated data will be extracted into audio
string, a textual string, with associated quality controls whereby the
textual translation will be compared to the audio form. The
voice-activated activation pattern will be stored and is subject to the
service provider's T&Cs. Periodically, the data will be taken off the
servers and moved to be stored on UCL infrastructure.Where appropriate and
possible infrastructure opt-outs will be utilised. E.g. For the Alexa
utilisation, the account has not subscribed ie switched off, permission
for Amazon to use the data to use to develop and enhance services and also
opted out of the option to use messages to improve transcription.Alexa:
Amazon T&Cs can be found
at https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201809740 and
the developer T&Cs can be found
at https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-voice-service/support/terms-and-agreementsGoogle
Home: Google Home T&Cs can be found
at https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7072285Having
self-enrolled on this page, read the text, watched the video and by
clicking the button provided, you are agreeing to the understanding and
participation in the Voice activated studies.If you would like to get
involved, in either the analysis, engagement, or see a future direction of
the study - then please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Ashley George or
Dr Dewi Lewis.Many thanks,Ashley & Dewi