JFC, they're even taking the bots that actually *do the chores* and turning them into genAI uncanny valley...
WHAT IS THAT THING
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"Angle demoed two Familiars on stage at the WSJ conference, showing them moving around, walking, and interacting with people, and making meowing and purring noises. The units were partially operator-controlled."
They always oversell the "autonomous" part because the tech is shitty.
@susankayequinn ugh, this, too:
"While Angle claims interest in the Familiar is “higher than what we saw with Roomba,” ..."
That's a claim I want to see data for, I can't see how it's credible and that sort of thing needs to be quantified.
The rest of the sentence is spot-on: "the lack of a clear purpose feels like a problem.
Roomba: clearly performs a useful household function I would like to not do myself.
Fake dog thing: "Interest" as in "morbid curiosity/schadenfreude" maybe?
Also if they were truly autonomous and behaved like cats, they would be squashed dead by dinner time because I utterly fail to avoid stepping on hungry cats who are trying to trip me.
It's just real cats DGAF and will continue to obsess about food, broken leg or not, I swear.
(Edit: disclaimer for hyperbole. I've never actually broken the cat's leg because I'll take the fall rather than hurt her; the bot is more likely to suffer the fate of a Lego construct left underfoot)
@johannab @susankayequinn My own cat is convinced tripping me in a potentially fatal manner is the most efficient way to communicate a need, so I feel you 😂
WHY ARE THEY TRYING TO ALWAYS KILL US
"it’s still a device with cameras and mics in your family space."
The Alexa that doesn't talk just follows you around and haunts you.
Bet my late Mom could do that better, still.
eeeesh. "a dog-sized robot ‘Familiar’ designed for human connection, not chores."
What ... what has gone wrong with people who even think this is needed? Someone is not hugging their babies enough, somehow. I DO NOT GET this . I am working hard to understand the actualities and subtleties of "AI" fur realz, but the fact that so much money & power has gone to ppl who can superficially identify a trigger for psychosis AND THINK THIS IS THE FIX is absolutely boggling.
This is like someone trying to work out their trauma of having been literally abused, by inventing a machine that swings a stick at everyone for being wary of abuse.
Like taking all the things we should have learned from Harlow's infant monkey experiments ARE BAD, and deciding to implement exactly those for the survivors.
I really hope that retriever eats that bot.
@johannab @susankayequinn a “Familiar”? Really?? 1) offensive cultural appropriation, and 2) nuh-uh, this is exactly the kind of thing the Fae would do to get into your house 😱
@crowbriarhexe @susankayequinn
Good grief if the Fae think they can nab my cats and leave me THIS sort of aberrant changeling they deserve to be exiled from their own kind.
Surely they could replace a nutty Siamese with just a slightly more nutty Siamese and make their point.
@johannab @susankayequinn well see the original plan was to gain entrance then spirit away humans to the Fae realm - then they spent some time around humans. Presumably now the plan is to rescue actual pets from households where anyone would buy one of these.
@johannab I have 3 iRobots in my home and I will *never* own one of these things. And if the roombas start making strange noises, I'm taking a baseball bat to them.
