AI companions?

[Jonn]

MSN

MSN

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Give this about 10 years. Personal robotic "companions", caregivers, servants will be part of the norm.

I think I get a bit "weirded out" by the animatronics of these things. Personally, I can see my wife and I purchasing a Tesla Optimus bot in about 5-10 years or so, just to help out with taking care of the house, assisting with difficult tasks, etc. The Optimus robot doesn't have a human face. I can deal with that. It's a robot, not an artificial human. The A.I. programming is accelerating exponentially, about 10X or so, every 6 months. Within a year or two they should be able to simply do whatever you ask them to do.

 

[Misty Avich]

There is no way I'm ever going to have companionship with a robot. Animatronics freak me out as it is. It's bad enough when I go to people's houses and they're constantly yelling at alexa to do something. Not a judgement on the people, you understand, I just don't want to be talking to robots myself. I prefer switches and remote controls.

 

[Outdated]

Constant companionship is something I hate the very idea of and I've gone to great lengths to get to a position in life where I can get away without such a thing. The idea of being so desperately lonely that you need a machine that can pretend to be human when there's no other humans around sounds like a form of mental illness to me.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

In all honesty, I think there is a legitimate role here for assisting those with disabilities and/or the elderly. I find now, especially with parents that are in their 70's and 80's and perhaps them living alone in "that house", not being able to care for themselves properly, keeping up with the household chores, cooking meals, shopping, etc. What if they fall and can't get to a phone? Sure, we can pay for a caregiver for them in the house, to stop by, check on them. Sure, we can demand they sell their home, their belongings, and enter into an assisted living facility or nursing home, but the costs of all of that are ridiculously expensive and pretty much demand that all assets be sold off before they qualify. It is such an upheaval in their lives and frankly, they want no part of it. It sucks. OR, for $25,000 (probably less), 1/2 the cost of a new car these days, you can purchase a very capable Optimus robot to be there for them. This is far and away, the cheapest option, and they can stay in their home.

I suggested my wife and I will likely have one, as well. The robot will be the home manager, the security system, the maid, the chef, and if we have plants that need watering while on vacation, pets that need taking care of while we are away traveling, that's going to be a very useful thing.

I agree with others here, I don't need something that is an "artificial human". Be a robot.

 

[Misery]

I prefer switches and remote controls.

Yeah, I agree with this one, sort of.

Like, some things can be much better with the convenience aspect, or just less irritating. When I'm using a phone, any sort of text input interface is usually irritating and slow. I'll gladly take the option to just talk at it and have the words appear.

At a big machine though, I want my keyboard. The lack of it is one reason I dont really like tablets all that much. I didnt learn to type at warp speed to slowly poke at some flat thing with no tactile feedback. Not to mention the clacking sounds, where's the fun in text input without that?

Sure, suffers on the convenience factor a bit... my keyboard is this enormous bulky thing that weighs a lot. But I wouldnt trade it for anything else really.

At the same time though there is something to be said for the experience of walking into a room and dramatically yelling "ALL SYSTEMS ENGAGE!!!" to turn everything on. Or maybe that one's just me.

Granted, I already do things like yell at lamps, so...

 

[Jumpinbare]

As a child, I was terrified of mannequins. I could imagine now stumbling groggy to the bathroom in the middle of the night and encountering a robot.