I think it has very little to do with the assistant factor and more to do with the loneliness factor (at least in the West, people are getting lonelier, not less). In other words: sell it to them as a friendly companion/assistant, playing on emotions, while creating a sea of surveillance drones you can license back to the powers that be at a premium.

It's a hell of a mousetrap.

Starts playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.