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

Course contacts

Course Administrator