‘Hey Siri, You’re Dumb!’: Investigating Blurting Instances of Voice-Based Assistants

Abstract

Abstract Voice-based assistants (VBAs) are transforming how we interact with technology. We rely heavily on VBAs (such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant) to manage our daily routines and tasks. The current study extends past research on blurting to the human–machine communication (HMC) context. An online survey (n = 185) was conducted to investigate blurting with a VBA. We analysed open-ended accounts of instances in which participants had blurted during conversations with a VBA. In addition, findings show that blurting with a VBA is related to the less sophisticated views of interpersonal arguments and higher argument seeking, verbal aggressiveness, psychological reactance, extraversion and neuroticism. Our findings suggest that although people blurt with VBAs, in line with the general Computers Are Social Actors paradigm, the reasons are unique to HMC.