Discussion
As Hal Duncan commented on BSky, "Toy company execs announce: at last we have created the sinister talking doll factory from the cautionary horror movie 'Do not create the sinister talking doll factory!'"
What else could possibly go wrong?
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-toys-danger
@cstross This will not end well.
@cstross actually, come to think of it, the "kink" part is why this stuff is so stupid. nobody asked about kinks, but the AI misunderstood the question and then got triggered by it's own bad answer to delve deeper into the topic of fetishes. because AIs don't have actual memory, they just read the rest of the conversation and pick out trigger words from that.
@cstross according to the article: 9 deaths have already been connected to chatgpt and more to it's competitors...
And we decide to put it into children's toys? What the fuck is wrong with us? They banned toys for less deaths!
@codinghorror @kyonshi The difference is the toy industry lobbying budget is much smaller than the car and construction industries ...
@cstross @jernej__s shit AI is already coming for my job, now they’re coming for my parenting style too?!
AI, making Scarfolk a reality.
@cstross
"I always do what Teddy says" by Harry Harrison.
Though that's an optimistic dystopia.
@cstross @sophieschmieg simply don't set the switch to 'evil'
@cstross soon it will be telling American kids where to find their parents handguns
@cstross they could tell kids how to build Jarts?
The Nazis want to take us back to the 1940s. This only gets to the 1960s but it's still Congress(*)!
(*) I believe it was Will Rogers who observed that Congress is the opposite of Progress.
@oddhack WTF are Jarts?
We call them "garden darts" or "lawn darts" here in the U.K..
Almost 60 years ago there was a U.S.A. children's toy brand named "Javelin Darts", #Hasbro's original name. Other companies got in on the act, too.
You can probably guess what's coming from the name. They had sharp metal spikes for noses instead of the soft wide noses that they have to have today.
Several thousand children were injured and some died.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-27-mn-10632-story.html
@cstross Lawn darts. 1 HP/over ranged weapons capable of removing eyes, puncturing holes in torsos, etc. when used as directed. The idea was, put down a plastic hoop and throw the darts high into the air with the intent of sticking in the ground inside the hoop. The reality was that when children throw things in the air, they come down randomly.
It was the 1960s. They were banned in an early triumph of the US consumer products safety commission so I expect them back on the market any time now.
@cstross It really does seem like the business plan was developed by feeding scripts for horror movies and Twilight Zone episodes into a large language model.
@mattblaze @cstross, this really does look like it's going to be an excellent learning opportunity… 😈
@mattblaze BRB, got to hit the nearest toy store for a talking doll named Chucky
@cstross Next idea: Airbnb, but for connecting groups of partying teenagers with large houses that were abandoned years earlier because the owners mysteriously disappeared.
— Josh, have you noticed that the only ones giving star ratings in this site are the “house acolytes”. The comments are also kind of weird.
— Karen! There you go bumming us out! Have you thought why you seem to be always alone at the end of the party?
@mattblaze Large houses, in the woods, with no cellular service and the phone line was disconnected years ago, and there's a door leading down to a darkened cellar where the walls sometimes bleed ...
@cstross @mattblaze all the listings start with "the old Heller place? I ain't see no-one round that way for years. Say, you're not from round here are you..."
@cstross "You're free to use the house, but you absolutely must stay out of the basement."
“Don’t be a killjoy! Of course we are arriving at night. There’s a discount for that and it is already so cheeeeeap!”
“The owner told us that he’s filling the fridge with this strange beer he makes, and we are welcome to drink it all!”
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
