Synthetic speech is improving, too, although it's still a bit off. It's all possible. Certainly, having a computer that can understand and talk back makes some sense. I'd love to have Cindy Crawford as my Artificial Passenger, too, but it'll probably be Janet Reno instead. Forget Mom's birthday while driving and artificial Janet will have me entertaining the local cops on the side of the road, walking a straight line while reciting the alphabet backward.
Employers already monitor our e-mail, Web surfing and phone calls.
Idle chatter is next. Imagine we can create an actual artificial intelligence inside our computers, with a real personality, just like a human being. One whiny child around the house is enough. Eventually, I assume, computers will develop full, rich personas, modeled after humans. Real conversations will be possible.