Virtual Assistants: A Code of Ethics

Abstract

An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) like Amazon’s Alexa supports clients remotely by performing administrative, technological, or creative tasks. IVAs have become a part of our daily lives and collect large sums of data about their users, meaning we need a proper code of ethics to protect people’s rights to privacy as there are data leakage concerns. In this paper, I outline a code of ethics for IVAs based on research and a case study on Amazon Alexa to recognize the key principles that a code of ethics for IVAs requires to protect its users. This code of ethics can be used for development of new IVAs or updating of existing ones in order for them to follow improved ethics principles.