<p>Voice assistants have become a constant presence in our lives. Maybe you talk to Alexa or Gemini or Siri to ask a question or to perform a task. Maybe you have to do a little back and forth with a voice bot whenever you call your pharmacy, or when you book a service appointment at your car dealership. You may even get frustrated and start pleading with the robot on the other end of the line to connect you with a real human.That’s the catch, though: These voice bots are starting to sound a lot more like actual humans, with emotions in their voice, little ticks and giggles in between phrases, and the occasional flirty aside. Today’s voice-powered chatbots are blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s not, which prompts a complicated ethical question: Can you trust a bot that insists it’s actually human?This week, Lauren Goode tells us about her recent news story on a bot that was easily tricked into lying and saying it was a human. And WIRED senior writer Paresh Dave tells us how AI watchdogs and government regulators are trying to prevent natural-sounding chatbots from misrepresenting themselves.Show Notes:Read more about the Bland AI chatbot, which lied and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/bland-ai-chatbot-human/">said it was human</a>. Read Will Kight’s story about researchers’ warnings of the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/prepare-to-get-manipulated-by-emotionally-expressive-chatbots/">manipulative power</a> of emotionally expressive chatbots.Recommendations:Lauren recommends <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374600303/thebeesting">The Bee Sting</a> by Paul Murray. (Again.) Paresh recommends subscribing to your great local journalism newsletter or Substack to stay informed on important local issues. Mike recommends <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805095562/winterjournal">Winter Journal</a>, a memoir by Paul Auster.Paresh Dave can be found on social media @<a href="https://x.com/peard33">peard33</a>. Lauren Goode is @<a href="https://twitter.com/LaurenGoode">LaurenGoode</a>. Michael Calore is @<a href="https://heads.social/@snackfight">snackfight</a>. Bling the main hotline at @<a href="https://twitter.com/gadgetlab">GadgetLab</a>. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@<a href="https://twitter.com/BooneAshworth">booneashworth</a>). Our theme music is by <a href="https://solarkeys.bandcamp.com/">Solar Keys</a>.</p>


The Blurred Reality of Human-Washing

<p>Voice assistants have become a constant presence in our lives. Maybe you talk to Alexa or Gemini or Siri to ask a question or to perform a task. Maybe you have to do a little back and forth with a voice bot whenever you call your pharmacy, or when you book a service appointment at [&hellip;]</p>
