Voice assistants are a remarkable example of the potential for AI to become further entwined with social life. However, they are produced by some of the world’s largest tech corporations and are rooted in capitalistic processes that depend on user data. This thesis presents a qualitative exploratory study of voice assistants. Through a combination of interviews and theoretical analysis, it focuses on participants’ perceptions and experiences with these AI agents and how they are embedded in the bigger picture of surveillance capitalism. The findings reveal the physical characteristics and personality traits that participants in this study ascribe to voice assistants, highlighting the implications of treating voice assistants as personified agents and the factors contributing to these perceptions. Further, this thesis examines how surveillance capitalism is present in participant interactions with these technologies and identifies how its reach into people’s lives is provoked by their design and background contexts. Lastly, it provides an overview of corporate power in the tech industry and how the structural, cultural, and political circumstances enable and legitimize big tech’s authority in digital environments and how this situates the individual and their capacity to contend with technological issues. / Graduate / 2023-07-12