An AI startup is offering free home cleaning services for New York City residents in an effort to train their future robot workforce.
Social media skeptics were quick to point out the privacy concerns that would inevitably arise from allowing cameras to capture every inch of a client’s living space. But for many commenters, the deal was too good to pass up. 
Shift announced the offer on social media Thursday, explaining that the insights it will gain from offering free cleanings will more than pay for how much they spend to get it.
“Here&#8217;s how it works. Book a shift cleaning. A vetted shift operator comes to your home wearing one of our devices. They clean. They leave. You pay nothing,” the post says.
“In exchange, we record the cleaning. Robotics is being built on data about how people do daily tasks, and the value of that recording is what funds the service. Anything personal in it is anonymized before the recording is processed.”
The X post went on to mention that this service is just the beginning. “By now, you have heard about the shift to AI more times than you can count. About the shift toward you, the part where you actually feel it, you have heard almost nothing. Shift is what starts to make it concrete, in specific cities, with specific services.” 
“Today, cleaning in New York. Soon, handymen, repairs, and errands,” the post concluded.
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Today, we&#8217;re launching shift. We&#8217;re starting by cleaning your apartment in New York City, for free.
Here&#8217;s how it works. Book a shift cleaning. A vetted shift operator comes to your home wearing one of our devices. They clean. They leave. You pay nothing.
In exchange, we record… <a href="https://t.co/oBrCXcEz5G">pic.twitter.com/oBrCXcEz5G</a>
— shift (@joinshiftX) <a href="https://x.com/joinshiftX/status/2060044783519735987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“Every home cleaned today lays the groundwork for a home that cleans itself tomorrow,” the company says in the video. 
A promotional video shows a cleaner washing windows, mopping and vacuuming floors, scrubbing dishes, and wiping down counters. He&#8217;s clad in a white uniform and a baseball cap with an obvious camera mounted on the front of it. 
According to Shift’s co-CEO and co-founder Bercan Kilic, this “magic hat” records the work with a hidden camera that documents their every move.
On its <a href="https://www.shiftapp.nyc/">website</a>, Shift promises that “privacy is fully protected,” with information such as names, faces, or personal information from screens and ID cards blurred before being used for AI training. The company also claims the data “is never shared publicly and is never used for advertising.” 
The video has more than 3 million views as of Friday. While many commenters said they want to sign up for the free cleans, others were more cautious.
“Nothing is free. People are being taken advantage of,” one person <a href="https://x.com/Francis_Watts/status/2060324058424864966">wrote</a>. “You should be paying them. Their data is more valuable than that, and you know it. Unscrupulous corrupt AI corporations like yours are evil.”
“This is so freakin’ creepy. Don’t people understand that nothing is free?” another person agreed.
“If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product,” a third person <a href="https://x.com/database_dealer/status/2060332712653627832">observed</a>.

Robot’s hand cleaning the kitchen cabinet.

AI Company Will Clean Your Home For Free, But There’s A Catch

Artificial Intelligence

New York City

Privacy

Robots

iRobot, the American company that created the robotic vacuum Roomba, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, sending the company into the arms of its Chinese manufacturer just three years after regulators blocked a proposed sale to Amazon.
Under the <a href="https://media.irobot.com/2025-12-14-iRobot-Announces-Strategic-Transaction-to-Drive-Long-Term-Growth-Plan?utm_source=chatgpt.com">bankruptcy plan</a>, iRobot’s manufacturer, Picea, will take 100% of the company’s equity, shifting ownership from American to Chinese hands. The filing comes after iRobot cited declining sales, increased competition from lower-priced alternatives, and rising supply chain and manufacturing costs. Initially, the company hoped to merge with Amazon to improve its scale and get more competitive pricing for parts and inventory.
While the Federal Trade Commission has not commented on iRobot’s bankruptcy, the commission welcomed the collapse of the Amazon deal in January 2024. “We are pleased that Amazon and iRobot have abandoned their proposed transaction,” the United States Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/01/statement-regarding-termination-amazons-proposed-acquisition-irobot">said</a>. “The Federal Trade Commission will not hesitate to take action in enforcing the antitrust laws to ensure that competition remains robust.”
Three years later, iRobot’s bankruptcy leaves the United States without a major American-owned competitor in the home robotics industry.
With iRobot’s bankruptcy, shareholders are expected to see their equity wiped out &#8212; an outcome that contrasts sharply with the $61 per share cash payout investors would have received had the Amazon acquisition gone through. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who urged regulators to oppose the deal, said at the time that Amazon should not be allowed to use acquisitions to avoid competition.
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“I have serious concerns about Amazon’s deal to buy iRobot,” <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1575616208417980417">said</a> Warren. “We’re asking the FTC to oppose this proposed deal to protect competition and consumers. Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to just buy their way out of competing.”
After the deal collapsed, iRobot laid off roughly one-third of its workforce and its stock price plummeted. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy later described the company’s struggle as “a sad story.”
“This American company invented this product, invented the category and built a business that was almost $1 billion in revenue,” Jassy said. He argued that successful businesses naturally attract competition, including from Chinese manufacturers, and that iRobot needed scale to survive.
“They needed to scale because scale lets you buy components at the right price and invest in R&amp;D,” Jassy said.
Jassy also addressed privacy concerns, noting that robotic vacuums must map the inside of customers’ homes to avoid running into furniture.
“What Western regulators were saying is that they trust these two large Chinese companies with maps of the inside of U.S. consumers&#8217; homes more than they do Amazon,” he said. “That can’t be what we were going for. I think we&#8217;ve got to try and find a way to be reasonable with what we are doing.”
At the time the deal was blocked, the Federal Trade Commission was chaired by President Joe Biden appointee Lina Khan, who quickly became known for her aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, particularly toward large technology companies. Khan now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-transition-team-a-reflection-of-his-leftism">serves</a> as New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team chair.

In this photo illustration, the IRobot logo is seen

Regulators Blocked Amazon-iRobot Deal, Now Bankruptcy Sends Company Back To China

Amazon

Antitrust

Business

Communist China

Economy

World

Russia’s unveiling of its first AI-powered humanoid robot, named AIdol, at a Moscow technology event took an unexpected turn when the droid lost its balance and fell on stage, scattering parts as handlers rushed to conceal it from view and make repairs. The incident drew laughter from the audience, especially as the robot’s tumble coincided with the triumphant &#8220;Rocky&#8221; theme playing in the background.
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Russia presented its human-like AI robot. It fell down as it walked onto the stage. <a href="https://t.co/YAk7w2SsWV">pic.twitter.com/YAk7w2SsWV</a>
&mdash; Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1988301955584897142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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different POV &#8211; broke apart when it fell 👇🥳 <a href="https://t.co/MtNn0PH3YN">pic.twitter.com/MtNn0PH3YN</a>
&mdash; Takeshi Kovacs (@PrzemekShura) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrzemekShura/status/1988331004814336278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Russians unveiled their “competitor” to <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla_Optimus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tesla_Optimus</a>. 
It didn’t go too well. It was like a robotic version hybrid of a drunk Kamala and a certain autopen president. <a href="https://t.co/aUc7hduNml">pic.twitter.com/aUc7hduNml</a>
&mdash; Chaya’s Clan (@ChayasClan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChayasClan/status/1988389208516592089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
The incident, widely circulated by Russian and international media, highlighted both the ambition and current limitations of Russia’s robotics sector, which aspires to compete in the global AI humanoid race dominated by Western and Asian firms.​ AIdol, built by the Russian firm Idol under the leadership of CEO Vladimir Vitukhin, is designed to demonstrate the possibilities of embodied artificial intelligence: movement, object manipulation, and human-like interaction.
It features a silicone skin engineered to express more than a dozen basic emotions and hundreds of micro-expressions, powered by 19 servomotors. Developers emphasize its domestic content — 77% of its components are Russian-made, with a goal of reaching 93% — and robust hardware, including a 48-volt battery that offers up to six hours of continuous operation.
However, during its debut, a calibration error caused the fall, which Vitukhin described as a necessary learning experience in the robot’s ongoing test phase. The team addressed the mishap with optimism, expressing hope that such mistakes would drive future refinement of balance systems and control software.
Public response to AIdol’s tumble was swift and often satirical. The video went viral, with viewers — particularly Americans — mocking the incident with quips such as “Walks like Kamala Harris,” “Vodka powered,” and “Russia, where even the robots are drunk.”
While some commenters saw humor in the mishap, others saw it as an indicator of the challenges developers face as they transition humanoid robots from laboratory prototypes to robust real-world systems. Analysts point out that this blunder is reminiscent of previous embarrassing robot unveilings and serves as a reminder of ongoing hurdles — ensuring stability, safety, and reliability under public scrutiny remains an unresolved issue.​
In contrast, the event highlights Tesla’s Optimus project, which is advancing rapidly in 2025. Tesla has begun construction of a dedicated factory for Optimus at its global headquarters in Texas, with plans to produce up to 10 million units per year by 2027. The third-generation Optimus robots are slated to launch in early 2026, promising major technological leaps: advanced human-like manipulation, autonomous learning from direct observation of humans (“sim2real” training), and broad application across industries and homes.
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk’s vision for Optimus is transformative — he expects mass deployment to revolutionize labor markets, eliminate poverty, and add trillions in economic value. Each Optimus unit, projected to cost around $20,000, is seen as a future staple in factories, healthcare, and society at large, with the robot able to mimic skills by watching humans or tutorials.

robot stands on a fallen question mark

WATCH: Russian Robot Meant To Rival Tesla Faceplants At Debut. It Wasn’t The Vodka.

Elon Musk

Russia

Technology

Tesla

Robotaxis produced by Google&#8217;s sister company, Waymo, rolled out onto New York City streets earlier this week as it tests the vehicles with &#8220;human safety operators&#8221; in America&#8217;s most populous city for the first time.
Waymo submitted its application to the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) last month to roll out a &#8220;small fleet&#8221; of robotaxis, but to comply with state law, the company must place a human in each car, at least for now, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/self-driving-robotaxi-service-waymo-launches-nyc-pilot-testing/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social">reported</a>. Waymo and the DOT are currently pushing for the state to change its law that requires human drivers in each vehicle. Two bills introduced earlier this year to overturn the state&#8217;s ban on self-driving vehicles are still in committee.
“We are working hard to bring Waymo to New Yorkers in the future, starting with this testing and advocating for changes to state law,” a DOT representative told the Post.
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We&#39;re on the move in the Big Apple! 🏙️ We&#39;ve begun testing in New York – be sure to give us a wave and snap a pic if you see us in the city. <a href="https://t.co/0cu2XSWAoi">pic.twitter.com/0cu2XSWAoi</a>
&mdash; Waymo (@Waymo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Waymo/status/1942377604985618487?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“The data to date shows that Waymo outperforms human drivers, significantly reducing the frequency of injury-causing traffic collisions,” said a spokesman for Waymo.
The manually driven Waymo vehicles in NYC will be servicing Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, according to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/07/waymo-heading-to-philadelphia-and-nyc/">TechCrunch</a>. They will also map out parts of New Jersey, focusing on Jersey City and Hoboken. Waymo vehicles also hit Philadelphia this week, where the vehicles will be seen throughout the downtown area as well as driving “at all hours throughout various Philadelphia neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, University City, and as far east as the Delaware River.”
Waymo&#8217;s move to NYC and Philadelphia this week is part of the company&#8217;s &#8220;road trips,&#8221; a plan used to send small batches of human-driven vehicles to cities across the United States to map out areas where Waymo could expand its services in the future. Waymo also plans to embark on &#8220;road trips&#8221; to Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Antonio this year, TechCrunch reported.
&#8220;Once the Waymo Driver understands the lay of the land, the vehicles can begin driving autonomously. During these trips, human specialists provide feedback to our engineering teams on the driving experience and flag unique nuances that might come with operating in new areas. Simultaneously, our engineering team can evaluate the Waymo Driver&#8217;s performance in a virtual replica of the new location,&#8221; Waymo <a href="https://waymo.com/blog/2023/11/road-trip-how-our-cross-country-testing-helps-advance-the-waymo-driver">said</a> in November 2023.
Waymo&#8217;s self-driving robotaxis are currently <a href="https://waymo.com/">operating</a> in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Austin.
As Waymo looks to roll out robotaxis in more cities, it has also been forced to address some issues with its driverless cars. In May, Waymo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/over-1200-self-driving-robotaxis-recalled-due-to-software-glitch-that-led-to-crashes">recalled</a> more than 1,200 of its robotaxis after a software glitch caused multiple crashes into chains, gates, or other roadway barriers, objects that road safety regulators said &#8220;a competent driver would be expected to avoid.&#8221;
Waymo said that it fixed the issue with a regular update to its fifth-generation self-driving software in November 2024.
Some Los Angeles and San Francisco residents have also recorded incidents involving driverless Waymo vehicles, including confusion, backing into oncoming traffic, and blocking emergency vehicles.
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Waymo turned into oncoming traffic on the way to work.
It sat there confused for 45 seconds with its hazards on.
Then it proceeded to back up into oncoming traffic.
And they’re about to let these guys on the freeway 😂 <a href="https://t.co/ZLRKx2loo1">pic.twitter.com/ZLRKx2loo1</a>
&mdash; Jake Glaser | LA Multifamily (@LAMultiBroker) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAMultiBroker/status/1885370114054512921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Videos like this is why I have my doubts on Waymo. 
Blocking three emergency vehicles in the middle of an intersection, and it just looks confused. <a href="https://t.co/wUe7RDltzL">pic.twitter.com/wUe7RDltzL</a>
&mdash; Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) <a href="https://twitter.com/niccruzpatane/status/1929590206488883246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Waymo

NYC Finally Allows Driverless Cars – But Only With ‘Human Safety Monitors’ Behind The Wheel

Cars

General

Google

New York

Elon Musk, who has taken a step back from his role in the Trump administration, said on Friday that he came to the &#8220;obvious conclusion&#8221; that &#8220;accelerating GDP growth is essential&#8221; to saving the United States from the national debt crisis.
Musk, whose massive donations to President Donald Trump and Republicans in 2024 helped secure the White House and Congress for the GOP, said earlier this week that he would donate &#8220;a lot less in the future&#8221; in political contributions. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has also taken a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-significantly-cut-back-doge-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">step back</a> from his role guiding the Department of Government Efficiency to focus more on his companies.
Responding to a conversation on X about the Republicans&#8217; &#8220;Big, Beautiful Bill,&#8221; Musk revealed more of his thinking on his decision, which he confirmed was focused on pushing for &#8220;radical&#8221; GDP growth through humanoid robots.
The conversation was sparked when one X user <a href="https://x.com/BarrettHoffarth/status/1925595695610044438" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;Given the disastrous GOP bill, the only chance the US has is explosive GDP growth. If that doesn&#8217;t happen in the next 2-3 years, we are cooked.&#8221;
Another person <a href="https://x.com/BarrettHoffarth/status/1925595695610044438" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replied</a> to the post, writing, &#8220;I wonder if this [is] why Elon has somewhat moved away from politics in order to accelerate GDP growth with humanoid robots. If he believes this is the only solution then this would be his most logical choice.&#8221;
Musk, who goes by the name &#8220;Kekius Maximus&#8221; on X, <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1925787762927554651" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the second post and confirmed that it accurately depicted his thinking on the issue.
&#8220;I have come to the perhaps obvious conclusion that accelerating GDP growth is essential. @DOGE has and will do great work to postpone the day of bankruptcy of America, but the profligacy of government means that only radical improvements in productivity can save our country,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1925975507759243741" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
Tesla is currently <a href="https://www.tesla.com/AI#:~:text=Tesla%20Optimus,of%20our%20hardest%20engineering%20challenges." target="_blank" rel="noopener">developing</a> an &#8220;autonomous humanoid robot capable of performing unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks.&#8221; Musk appears to be re-focusing on the project after spending months around the White House advising President Donald Trump and pushing to cut government spending. Last week, the Tesla CEO posted a clip of a robot dancing with human-like movements.
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🕺 <a href="https://t.co/NzqAmN3F5z">pic.twitter.com/NzqAmN3F5z</a>
&mdash; Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1922083384085430492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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In another post in April, Musk showed a video of a humanoid robot speeding up and slowing down while walking.
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Accurate actuators accelerate automation <a href="https://t.co/5H0uHxf7v2">pic.twitter.com/5H0uHxf7v2</a>
&mdash; Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1907317741763084507?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1925977691162816639" target="_blank" rel="noopener">believes</a> that robots will play a major part in the global economy and have an effect on the GDP of some countries within five years. Last year, he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-10-billion-humanoid-robots-by-2040-20k-25k-each-2024-10-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that there would be 10 billion humanoid robots on Earth by 2040, sold for $20,000 to $25,000 each. He also <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1916573094367625556" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in April that &#8220;robots will surpass good human surgeons within a few years and the best human surgeons within ~5 years.&#8221;
Musk&#8217;s explanation for focusing more on his companies and less on politics comes after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-says-u-s-can-grow-our-way-out-of-national-debt-crisis-by-focusing-on-economy?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Bessent+Says+U.S.+Can+%E2%80%98Grow+Our+Way+Out+Of%E2%80%99+National+Debt+Crisis+By+Focusing+On+Economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Friday morning that he is pushing to grow the economy &#8220;faster than the debt.&#8221; Bessent argued that Americans concerned with the massive federal debt should focus on the debt-to-GDP ratio “because we can grow our way out of this.”
“If we change the growth trajectory of the country, of the economy, then we will stabilize our finances and grow our way out of this,” Bessent added.

Musk Reveals More About His Decision To Step Back From Politics … And It Involves Humanoid Robots

Politics

Trump Administration

Tesla CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> announced the development of two autonomous vehicles Thursday night in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a>, hailing the vehicles as the future of transportation.
During an event called “We, Robot” in Burbank, Musk said that his company would be rolling out the &#8220;Robotaxi&#8221; or “Cybercab” and the “Robovan,” both of which would be fully autonomous vehicles. The Robotaxi will be a smaller vehicle with no pedals or steering wheel while the Robovan will be designed for public transportation or movement of goods.
“We&#8217;ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving, where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,&#8221; said Musk, who arrived at the event in a Robovan. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a glorious future.&#8221;
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Robotaxi &amp; Robovan <a href="https://t.co/pI2neyJBSL">pic.twitter.com/pI2neyJBSL</a>
— Tesla (@Tesla) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1844583703604772893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Musk said that he had brought 50 fully autonomous vehicles to the event, which also highlighted his Tesla bot &#8220;Optimus,&#8221; which will be humanoid robots designed to help people with household chores and errands.
When available for the public, the Robotaxi would cost customers around $30,000, according to Musk, who said he hopes to start producing them by 2027, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/10/elon-musk-hypes-a-30000-tesla-cybercab-robovan-at-robotaxi-event.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Musk said that the Robovan, which is still in development, would be able to hold up to 20 people.
“Now can you imagine going down the street and you see this coming toward you? That’d be sick,” he said. “This can carry up to 20 people and it can also transport goods so you can configure it for goods transport within a city or transport of up to 20 people at a time.”
Musk said he believed that the Robovan would increase safety and solve problems with heavy traffic in densely populated areas.
“The Robovan is what is going to solve for high density,” he said. “So if you want to take a sports team somewhere or you’re looking to really get the cost of travel down to five, 10 cents a mile, then you can use the Robovan.”
Musk said the products were part of his overall vision for innovation and technological advancement.
“One of the things we want to do, and you’ve seen this with the Cybertruck, is we want to change the look of the roads,” he <a href="https://x.com/Tesla/status/1844581432515006665">added</a>. “The future should look like the future.”

The New York Times Hosts Its Annual DealBook Summit

Elon Musk Announces Creation Of Autonomous ‘Cybercab’ And ‘Robovan’ Vehicles

California

U.S.

A year ago, Sports Illustrated uploaded a video to their various social media channels. It shows Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors point guard and NBA champion, making five full-court shots in a row, in just about thirty seconds. In case you&#8217;re not familiar with basketball, this is an athletic feat that&#8217;s about as close to statistically impossible as you can get. But Sports Illustrated played it straight. The outlet <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1599554509373468672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on their Twitter account, &#8220;Just finished a shoot with Steph Curry — this dude just can’t miss.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Steph Curry Makes 5 Full Court Shots In A Row (Different Angle)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xt5vzE0QCvk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Watching it, there&#8217;s no obvious way to tell it&#8217;s fake. Even if you watch it a few times, it seems real. You see him shoot the basketball, the camera follows the ball, and it goes in the hoop. Looks basically legit. But of course none of it was legit. And Sports Illustrated knew that, because the creator of the clip — who they tagged in one of their posts — is known for manipulating videos like this. The whole thing was just a bid for some attention on social media.
No one really followed up on this whole episode. There was no ensuing conversation about ethics in sports journalism. When Sports Illustrated ultimately <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/steph-curry-confirms-viral-shooting-video-is-fake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> that it was a sham, no one cared. On one level, that&#8217;s not particularly surprising, since Sports Illustrated is a shadow of what it once was. Other than the annual swimsuit edition, which presumably now features trans and plus sized models, there&#8217;s no longer anything to distinguish the magazine from any number of other low quality sports blogs you can find on the Internet. That&#8217;s been true for quite some time.
What&#8217;s interesting about this episode, though, is what happened afterwards. 
Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t stop lying to its audience. They didn&#8217;t decide to renew their commitment to serious sports journalism, to the extent that &#8220;serious sports journalism&#8221; isn&#8217;t an oxymoron. Instead, Sports Illustrated chose to start faking a lot more than just videos.
A website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just published an investigative <a href="https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers">report</a> into the scam that Sports Illustrated has been running. Apparently, the company has been using artificial intelligence to draft entire articles. But more than that, they have been using AI to create fake authors, as well, complete with fake biographies. The outlet never disclosed any of this to its readers.
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Here for example is their <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221205082417/https://www.si.com/review/author/drewortiz/">biography</a> of one Drew Ortiz, who appears to be a white male with brown hair and blue eyes. This is straight from Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website: &#8220;Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature. &#8230; Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn&#8217;t out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents&#8217; farm.&#8221; 
Obviously, most of the biographies you&#8217;ll read online are stilted and fake. But even by that low standard, Drew Ortiz&#8217;s bio is a little suspect. What does it mean to &#8220;keep you from falling to the perils of nature,&#8221; exactly? That sounds a little morbid. And once you find out that AI was responsible for it, the “perils of nature” line starts to seem more than a little bit creepy. But you&#8217;re not supposed to dwell on Drew&#8217;s biography. Instead, you&#8217;re supposed to click on his articles, because that&#8217;s how Sports Illustrated makes money.
Once you do that — once you click the AI-generated clickbait — here&#8217;s what you&#8217;ll find. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221004090814/https://www.si.com/review/full-size-volleyball/">One</a> of Ortiz&#8217;s articles, which was originally published last year, is entitled, &#8220;Play Like A Pro With The Best Full-Size Volleyballs.&#8221; The point of this article is to advertise a series of volleyballs, so that Sports Illustrated can get a kickback when people click on the links and buy a volleyball. This is pretty standard in digital media, as you may have noticed. The &#8220;Drew Ortiz&#8221; artificial intelligence, for its part, was tasked with writing a paragraph to introduce all these affiliate links.
Here&#8217;s what Drew came up with: 
<blockquote>Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and for good reason. It’s fast-paced, has a high skill ceiling, and is generally an exciting sport to both play and watch. Even people who don’t watch sports can easily understand the intensity and skill required to play volleyball whenever they watch clips. There’s a reason why it’s been such a mainstay in modern sports to this day. Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.</blockquote>
Now, up until that last line, you can see why someone might be fooled into thinking that Drew Ortiz is a real person. He comes across as an earnest guy trying to explain why he loves volleyball, in as many words as possible. But towards the end, Drew enters the uncanny valley. &#8220;Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into,&#8221; Drew writes, &#8220;especially without an actual ball to practice with.&#8221;
Well, that&#8217;s an understatement, Drew. It&#8217;s a bit like saying water polo is hard to get into without water, or cooking is hard to do without food. It&#8217;s the kind of thing no human being would ever say. So needless to say, the AI known as Drew Ortiz wasn&#8217;t exactly producing the most compelling copy. We can assume that very few people bought volleyballs on Drew&#8217;s professional recommendation.
That could be why, sometime this summer, Sports Illustrated quietly <a href="https://archive.is/D9DV2">replaced</a> Ortiz with another AI. This time, the name for the AI changed from Drew Ortiz to &#8220;Sora Tanaka.&#8221; Who is Sora Tanaka? Let&#8217;s see. According to her biography on Sports Illustrated&#8217;s website:
<blockquote>Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks. She is fond of varying her workouts and believes everyone should participate in some form of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!</blockquote>
I&#8217;ll read that last part again: &#8220;She &#8230; believes everyone should participate in some sort of physical or mental activity at least three times per week!&#8221; Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. We can infer from this that AI doesn&#8217;t exactly have a high opinion of humans, if this is the bar it’s setting for us. Just use your body or your mind three times a week. Let’s start there, AI is saying to the human race. I’d like to say that the robots are underestimating us here, but I don’t think they are.
At this point, it&#8217;s important to mention that Sports Illustrated didn&#8217;t just have AI generate articles, and fake biographies for fake writers. AI also created fake headshots for these writers. They generated images out of thin air. Both Tanaka and Ortiz had AI-produced headshots. We know that because the headshots were available for sale, on an online marketplace that sells AI headsets. Eventually, after they were confronted by Futurism, Sports Illustrated took all of these articles and headshots down, scrubbing all of it from their website. 
In a statement, the company blamed a contractor for all of this. They denied that the articles were written by AI, although they didn&#8217;t deny that the headshots were AI-generated. They also claimed that editors carefully review all content that&#8217;s uploaded. 
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That&#8217;s a claim that several other websites have made in the past. CNET, for example, insisted that while it was using AI to draft articles, editors were carefully fact-checking every detail prior to publication. How did that work out? A few months ago, CNET published an <a href="https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/banking/advice/what-is-compound-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> claiming that a $10,000 deposit in a savings account, earning a 3% APY, would return $10,300 in profit after the first year. That&#8217;s off by about $10,000. CNET later appended a correction to the article. Somehow that one slipped by the fact-checkers.
Bankrate, one of CNET&#8217;s sister sites, has had the same problem. They claim that their editors carefully review AI-generated articles, but these articles are full of mistakes. Including mathematical mistakes, which is the one thing you’d think AI would always get right. 
So what do we make of all this? 
It&#8217;s easy to mock outlets like CNET and Bankrate and Sports Illustrated, which no one reads anymore. But it&#8217;s not hard to see where this is all heading. We&#8217;re rapidly and willfully moving towards a dystopian world where AI does everything and most human effort and labor has become redundant. Everyone can see this coming, and knows it&#8217;s bad, but it seems like none of our leaders have the fortitude to do anything about it. AI replacing Sports Illustrated writers is the least of our concerns in this regard. What happens when AI starts replacing, oh I don&#8217;t know, truck drivers and ride-share drivers? These are jobs that a significant portion of the American middle class depend on in order to survive. What happens when Waymo and Cruise and Tesla manage to perfect their self-driving AIs?
We&#8217;re not there yet, of course. It&#8217;ll likely be several more years until AI is capable of doing any of that. And it&#8217;s still possible we&#8217;ll eventually elect leaders in time, who will do something to prevent the potential destruction of millions of jobs in this country.
In the meantime, it&#8217;s important to look closely at the jobs that AI *is* capable of replacing, and what that says about these jobs and our culture at large. 
It&#8217;s hard to deny that &#8220;journalism&#8221; — and sports journalism in particular — has become so vacuous and pointless that it can easily be replaced by robots and most readers don&#8217;t even notice. It&#8217;s generally not a good thing to replace human jobs with AI, but in the media, so many of the humans doing the jobs are already barely human as it is. So it feels like a bit of a lateral move.
This isn&#8217;t just happening at Sports Illustrated and CNET and Bankrate. It&#8217;s happening at all the various tiers of garbage journalism, including gaming journalism. The website Kotaku now <a href="https://twitter.com/xpatriciah/status/1725928585737666947" target="_blank" rel="noopener">features</a> a few AI-written articles. Microsoft Start — which is the homepage that Microsoft presents to users of its Internet browser — recently featured an <a href="https://futurism.com/msn-ai-brandon-hunter-useless" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obituary</a> with this headline: &#8220;Brandon Hunter Useless At 42.&#8221; This is a former NBA player who died suddenly, and that&#8217;s the headline the AI went with. He&#8217;s not dead — he&#8217;s, “useless.” Which is sort of true in a literal sense, I suppose. But that’s not how humans typically look at it. Microsoft, maybe the biggest tech company on the planet, promoted that story. And here&#8217;s the amazing thing: It didn&#8217;t cause any kind of stir. You probably hadn’t even heard about it.
That&#8217;s because we&#8217;re used to this. We take it for granted that whatever garbage we read was either written by a poorly programmed AI, or it was written by some liberal arts graduate with no life skills. Either way, we don&#8217;t take it seriously, it&#8217;s just noise. The bar is so low that it&#8217;s impossible to be outraged by poor quality journalism anymore.
Indeed, it&#8217;s hard to be outraged by the quality of pretty much anything produced for mass consumption at this point. Take popular music, for example. A few days ago, an AI &#8220;singer-songwriter&#8221; using the name Anna Indiana went viral on social media. Here&#8217;s how Anna introduced itself, followed by some of Anna&#8217;s singing:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hello world! I’m Anna Indiana and I’m an AI singer-songwriter. Here’s my first song, Betrayed by this Town. Everything from the key, tempo, chord progression, melody notes, rhythm, lyrics, and my image and singing, is auto-generated using AI. I hope you like it 💕 <a href="https://t.co/0Cf42iyxHI">pic.twitter.com/0Cf42iyxHI</a>
&mdash; Anna Indiana (@AnnaIndianaAI) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaIndianaAI/status/1728089499429642432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Now, needless to say, kill it with fire. The song is bad and bland and creepily lifeless. It’s also quite ominous. AI’s idea of a fun pop ballad is a lamentation about the pointlessness and futility of existence, followed by a call for us to “tear it all down.” The robots are, once again, not trying to hide their disdain for the human species. But then again, the mainstream music industry also hates the human species, and also has been, for decades, churning out its own bad and bland and creepily lifeless content.
To be fair, I should note that on social media, a lot of people gave negative reviews to that particular performance. But there are plenty of examples of soulless AI singers that have gotten a lot of praise recently. Here&#8217;s AI Johnny Cash singing a Taylor Swift song, for example. This was everywhere on social media a few weeks ago:
https://twitter.com/buccocapital/status/1719482652577644722?s=20
AI Johnny Cash got rave reviews, for the most part. People didn&#8217;t care that they were hearing the voice of a dead country music legend singing some of the most vapid lyrics imaginable. They embraced it. Some of them even said they preferred it to Johnny Cash&#8217;s original work.
This why we can be certain that eventually nearly all of the content we consume on the internet, and nearly every movie and show we watch, and song we listen to, will all be generated by AI. The technology is getting more advanced, while at the same time the humans who produce most of this content are getting dumber and more vacuous. Humans and AI are essentially meeting in the middle, where the two become indistinguishable. Now, I don’t think that AI will ever be able to write a book like &#8220;The Lord of the Rings&#8221; or make a movie like &#8220;The Godfather&#8221; or compose an original song to match Beethoven, but that’s not the kind of art that we consume these days. We watch Marvel movies and read short blurbs on the Internet and listen to canned pop music, and AI will certainly be able to produce all of that. And since we, as a culture, don’t value beauty and originality and depth anymore, we will eventually accept the AI content and consume it just as vigorously. All we want is the content, after all. We don’t really care where it comes from, or what it is, or who produced it, or what produced it. This is what makes AI dangerous. Not that it will become sentient and enslave mankind or whatever. But that it will become indistinguishable from humans, because humans have become indistinguishable from it.
It all kind of reminds me of the last few page of George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm,” which was obviously meant to be an allegory about communism not artificial intelligence. Still, I think about that very last line: &#8220;The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again. But already it was impossible to say which was which.&#8221;
All you need to do is replace the word &#8220;pig&#8221; with &#8220;AI,&#8221; and you&#8217;ve got a modern allegory. Which is incredible, if you think about it. Just a few decades ago, it would have been crazy for Sports Illustrated to publish computer-generated slop, and pass it off as journalism, it never would have worked. But this past year, it went on for months, and no one even noticed, until a website called &#8220;Futurism&#8221; just happened to catch on.
Men are becoming indistinguishable from pigs, to use Orwell&#8217;s phrase. And with each passing day — with each refinement to the algorithm — it becomes more and more difficult to say which is which.

Robotic hand pressing a keyboard on a laptop 3D rendering

Media Outlets Use AI To Create Fake Writers Who Are Almost As Creepy And Soulless As Real Journalists

Journalism

Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

Sports Illustrated

Steph Curry

Wendy’s announced on Thursday that the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">company</a> will test a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/robots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robotic</a> system to deliver orders underground from its kitchens to distinct parking spots outside of its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/restaurant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restaurants</a>, a move which comes as the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/food" target="_blank" rel="noopener">food</a> services sector turns toward automation in response to labor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shortages</a>.
The firm will partner with hyperlogistics company Pipedream, which created a <a href="https://www.pipedreamlabs.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">system</a> through which entities such as restaurants, retailers, grocery stores, and warehouses can immediately transport goods to waiting customers in order to streamline digital pickups. The technology, which the company plans to implement in an existing location later this year, will connect to the kitchen and transport orders underground with a robot to portals in the parking lot outside of the restaurant.
&#8220;We know that serving orders quickly and accurately leads to increased customer satisfaction,&#8221; Wendy’s COO Deepak Ajmani said in a <a href="https://www.irwendys.com/news/news-details/2023/Wendys-Partners-with-Pipedream-to-Pilot-Industry-First-Underground-Delivery-System-for-Mobile-Orders/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. &#8220;Pipedream&#8217;s Instant Pickup system has the potential to unlock greater mobile order speed of service and accuracy, enabling us to consistently deliver hot and fresh Wendy&#8217;s products to our fans.&#8221;
Wendy’s added that customers will not have to leave their cars in order to receive their food, significantly increasing efficiency for restaurant workers.
&#8220;We&#8217;re proud to partner with an iconic, innovative brand like Wendy&#8217;s to bring the future of mobile order pick-up to the quick service industry,&#8221; Pipedream CEO Garrett McCurrach said in the release. &#8220;By solving order handoff, the final leg of the digital experience, our Instant Pickup technology allows Wendy&#8217;s restaurant team members to focus on what matters: serving delicious, high-quality food and connecting with customers in this digital-first world.&#8221;
The move from Wendy’s comes as labor shortages persist after the lockdown-induced recession: there are nearly two open positions for every unemployed individual in the United States, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/charts/job-openings-and-labor-turnover/unemp-per-job-opening.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, increasing costs for businesses and contributing to inflation as companies hike wages to attract and retain employees.
Other quick service restaurants have turned toward artificial intelligence to increase operational efficiency in light of the worker shortages. Fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-fast-food-chains-will-roll-out-ai-drive-thru-technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> earlier this month that the brands would use an AI voice ordering platform developed by OpenCity in their drive-thru systems at select locations across the country, a move which is expected to increase “order accuracy” and cause “significant impact to labor efficiencies.”
Customers who arrive at drive-thru lines can place their orders through a “digital interaction” with the system before they pay an employee for their meal, likewise allowing workers to “focus more on providing better customer service and preparing timely and freshly made orders.”
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McDonald’s has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mcdonalds-partners-with-ibm-to-automate-drive-thrus-as-labor-shortages-persist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partnered</a> with IBM to automate drive-thrus and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mcdonalds-is-testing-voice-automated-drive-thrus-in-wake-of-15-minimum-wage-proposals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> voice-ordering technology at multiple Chicago restaurants two years ago after purchasing several AI startups, while Chipotle <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-passed-a-new-minimum-wage-bill-now-chipotle-is-testing-a-robotic-chip-maker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> a robotic chip machine in California after state lawmakers passed a bill to create a council with authority to raise fast food minimum wages.
Broader debate over AI and automation largely centers on the potential labor market impacts from the nascent technology. Even as some analysts <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colossal-share-of-american-jobs-could-be-replaced-by-ai-new-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forecast</a> that the sector could eliminate as many as 7% of positions in the United States, others note that the systems <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-how-much-more-efficient-ai-makes-the-average-worker-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener">render</a> individual workers considerably more productive, implying avenues for economic growth and more opportunities for creative work as rote elements within many professions are automated.

Wendy’s Restaurant

Fast Food Chain Will Use Underground Robots To Deliver Orders In Parking Lot

Fast Food Chain Will Use Underground Robots To Deliver Orders

Jobs

Restaurant

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/walmart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walmart</a> announced on Tuesday that 65% of its stores will be serviced by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automation</a> within the next three years, a development which follows persistent shortages of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/supply-chain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supply chain</a> workers.
The retail behemoth said in a <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2023/04/04/walmart-outlines-growth-strategy-unveils-next-generation-supply-chain-at-2023-investment-community-meeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> that executives will prioritize logistics innovations powered by both humans and technology in the coming years. As automation arrives at the majority of Walmart stores, which also operate as components of the firm’s logistics operations, some 55% of fulfillment center volume will move through automated facilities, a change that could produce 20% improvements in unit cost averages.
Walmart recently showcased the supply chain innovations at a regional distribution center in Brooksville, Florida, where a combination of data, software, and robotics solutions enables “a more consistent, predictable and higher quality delivery service to stores and customers,” as well as faster reactions to shifting consumer demand. Walmart is one of the <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/askwalmart/how-many-people-work-at-walmart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest</a> private sector employers in the United States and currently has 1.6 million domestic associates.
The company noted that the new technology will create roles that “require less physical labor but have a higher rate of pay” even as the number of overall employees are maintained or increased. “We are a people-led, tech-powered omnichannel retailer,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon remarked in the press release. “As it relates to being people-led, it’s about purpose, values, culture, opportunity and belonging. We serve our associates by creating opportunities.”
The news occurs as the persistent labor shortages which followed the lockdown-induced recession continue to produce difficulties for public and private entities seeking to hire more workers. There exist roughly 9.9 million job openings and 5.9 million unemployed individuals across the economy, according to a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting a labor market that has worsened inflationary pressures as firms increase compensation.
Walmart indeed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walmart-raises-minimum-wages-as-worker-shortages-crunch-labor-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hiked</a> their minimum wages earlier this year such that average pay for employees across the country will now surpass $17.50 per hour. Amazon, another leading private sector employer, also <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-invests-nearly-1-billion-in-increased-wages-for-operations-employees#:~:text=Average%20hourly%20pay%20for%20employees,and%20location%20in%20the%20U.S." target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> nationwide wage increases: average hourly pay for employees in customer fulfillment and transportation are slated to increase above $19.00 per hour, with employees earning between $16.00 per hour and $26.00 per hour depending on their position and their location in the United States.
Walmart addressed the particularly severe worker shortages in their supply chain operations by revealing initiatives meant to help store associates become certified as truck drivers and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walmart-will-now-offer-up-to-110000-salary-for-new-drivers-announces-12-week-training-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earn</a> as much as $110,000 during their first year in the new position. The economy as a whole currently has a shortfall of 80,000 truck drivers, according to <a href="https://trucking.org/news-insights/ata-chief-economist-pegs-driver-shortage-historic-high" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the American Trucking Association, which noted that the figure could expand to 160,000 drivers in the next seven years.
Companies in the service industry have likewise turned toward automation amid the labor shortages: McDonald’s recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-real-minimum-wage-is-zero-mcdonalds-restaurant-uses-automation-for-pickups-and-orders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> a test restaurant in Texas in which customers can use kiosks and a mobile app to pick up their orders from a conveyor belt rather than interacting with customer-facing staff, while Chipotle <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-passed-a-new-minimum-wage-bill-now-chipotle-is-testing-a-robotic-chip-maker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested</a> a robotic tortilla chip maker in a California location.
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Discussions about technological unemployment over the past several decades have centered on blue-collar workers losing their jobs to automation and robotics. The recent widespread adoption of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language processing tool that can complete tasks such as writing code or drafting emails in a matter of seconds, has nevertheless broadened the conversation to white-collar professionals. Artificial intelligence could replace as much as 7% of jobs in the United States, according to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colossal-share-of-american-jobs-could-be-replaced-by-ai-new-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published this week by Goldman Sachs.

Walmart

Majority Of Walmart Stores Will Be Automated Within The Next Three Years

Most Walmart Stores Will Be Automated Within The Next Three Years

Supply Chain

As Artificial Intelligence continues to expand its role in our daily lives, experts are now concerned about the future of human agency and our simple decision-making processes — and a phenomenon uniquely American could catapult us into that future quicker than we realize.
The Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center sought the opinions of many different kinds of experts — all of which have expertise with automation as it relates to their occupation — on the extent to which we will have control in tech-aided decisions.
The Pew <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/24/the-future-of-human-agency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> asked 540 academics, developers, researchers, and policy experts the following: 
<blockquote>“By 2035, will smart machines, bots and systems powered by artificial intelligence be designed to allow humans to easily be in control of most tech-aided decision-making that is relevant to their lives?”</blockquote>
The results of this nonscientific canvassing:
<ul>
<li>56% of these experts did not agree that humans will remain in control of most tech-aided decision-making.</li>
<li>44% said they agreed that humans will remain in control of most tech-aided decision-making.  </li>
</ul>
The report also features written responses from hundreds of survey respondents — most concerned with the encroachment of AI on human agency.
“Looking at the studies on human factors, human systems integration, etc., humans become pretty lazy when it comes to being vigilant over the technology,” said Heather Roff, nonresident fellow in the law, policy, and ethics of emerging military technologies at the Brookings Institution and senior research scientist at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “Humans’ cognitive systems are just not geared to ‘think like’ these systems. So, when one has a lack of literacy and a lazy attitude toward the use of such systems, bad things tend to happen.”
Roff’s comments serve as a good indication of her cohort. The rapid sophistication of AI’s ability to make decisions combined with the complexity “under the hood” of the algorithms incentivize both increasing reliance on the technology and decreasing concern for how the technology operates.
Additionally, social impact will likely be an afterthought considering the speed of advancement of AI, according to Lea Schlanger, a North American senior business intelligence analyst. She said, “Advancements in AI and machine learning automation are currently happening faster than research on the impacts they’ll have on society as a whole.”
On the other hand, those who believe that human agency will not deteriorate with advancing AI argue that humans will always have the ability to decide what and what not to delegate to AI.
“Although many important decisions will be made by autonomous and artificial intelligence, they will be willingly delegated to non-human intelligence, but we will still keep the decision of what decisions to offload to ourselves,” wrote Chris Labash, associate professor of communication and innovation at Carnegie Mellon University.
One theme present among those on the same side as Labash was that market forces would place adequate restraints upon AI’s role in tech-aided decision-making. Also, historically, many argue, humans have always evolved with technological advancement.
However, the themes present amongst respondents who are more pessimistic about AI’s role in human agency cause more concern than perhaps their counterparts’ view cause hope.
The report noted a common theme amongst the 56% who disagreed with the survey question observe that there is very little incentive among very powerful actors to honor human agency, whether that be for monetary, ideological, or some other kind of gain. They also recognize the human draw towards convenience, and that is compounded by the “black box” operations these complex AIs utilize.
But, could there be a social factor, especially present in Western culture, priming us to relinquish more of our agency all the more quickly to AI?
Agency describes our ability to make choices. In recent decades, the West has fostered a culture that produces so many choices for so many things that a new phenomenon has occurred, which garnered the term “overchoice.”
The Decision Lab, an applied research and innovations firm specializing in behavioral science, <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/choice-overload-bias" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defines</a> overchoice as “how people get overwhelmed when they are presented with a large number of options to choose from.”
There are a near infinite number of options nowadays in many aspects of our lives, whether it be searching for a partner in dating apps, movies and shows to watch on streaming services, job search engines, houses and apartments on property websites, music streaming, and on and on. Overchoice is a risk we take from the smallest parts of our lives, like choosing the next few songs for the queue, to the biggest parts, like choosing our next home or potential spouse. 
Barry Schwartz authored the book, “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less,” which analyzes the consequences of being presented with too many choices. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> there are two things that generally occur when faced with an overabundance of choices. 
First, decision paralysis. People are less likely to engage in an activity if there are too many choices. 
Second, people usually experience less satisfaction with their choices when presented with too many options than if they were presented with fewer. There is a sneaking sense of regret, because there is more responsibility of the decision maker, and there is always the question of what could have been with a different choice, according to Schwartz.
With there being more options in multiple facets of life, increasing the likelihood of experiencing overchoice, the temptation to delegate decision-making to AI could become even stronger as the technology progresses.
In fact, some streaming companies seem to have already picked up on consumers experiencing overchoice with their products.
Over the last couple of years, Netflix has rolled out the “Play Something” feature, which utilizes machine learning. “There are times when we just don’t want to make decisions,” the feature’s about page <a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/news/play-something-netflix-does-the-work-for-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>. “When you hit the ‘Play Something’ button, you’ll be instantly met with a series or film we know you’ll love based on what you’ve watched before.”
Spotify is the most recent case of rolling out a new AI system for its listeners. The Spotify “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spotify-rolls-out-ai-powered-dj-that-comments-on-your-music-playlist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DJ</a>” uses AI to take recommending music to another level.
“The beauty of these experiences is our ability to deliver the right piece of music for that exact moment in time, and maybe even connect you with your next favorite artist in the process. We’re building on that innovation by harnessing the power of AI in an entirely new way,” the company <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-02-22/spotify-debuts-a-new-ai-dj-right-in-your-pocket/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
Both systems strive to deliver the best choice for the consumer. When faced with infinite choices for music or tons of films, why not skip the hard part and let the AI make the choice for you? Then, imagine this mode of thinking when AI expands its capability into more important areas of our lives.
Experts are still split on how AI will affect human agency, and the debate must continue as the technology advances. A necessary wrinkle to that debate, however, is the choice fatigue Westerners already experience, which already seems to indicate that consumers are more primed for AI-aided decision-making technology.
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Army of robots

Collision Course: How An Explosion In Artificial Intelligence Could Threaten Human Agency

Big Tech

The following is the opening satirical monologue from “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1120-it-s-not-the-tweet-it-s-the-humanity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show.</a>“
According to what used to be Time Magazine, young people are falling in love with AI-driven ChatBots. While this real-life version of movies like &#8220;Blade Runner&#8221; and &#8220;Her&#8221; is clearly a sign of an evil-infested culture riding an unstoppable vortex downward into apocalyptic destruction, it’s also kind of amusing, especially to those of us who are so old we’ll probably be with Jesus before the start of the Great Tribulation, preferably in his TV Room, watching on his really, really big screen as non-believers and other Democrats are dragged down into the absolute darkness of a Klavanless Eternity where there’ll be great wailing and gnashing of teeth unless you’re in Jesus’s TV room where we’ll just be trying not to laugh out loud and shout, “I told you so,” because that wouldn’t look as loving and compassionate as we said we were when we somehow managed to talk our way past the rope Nazi at the Pearly Gates.
Now, even some experts have noted that love affairs between people and soulless computer programs may not be altogether healthy for individuals or society, after which the experts fell out of bed into a pool of their own vomit, muttering, “Look at me, I’m an expert,” before passing out again in a haze of alcohol- and drug-induced expertise. But even those of us who are not experts, but instead have that minimal amount of intelligence and common sense that disqualifies you for expertise because you have a minimal amount of intelligence and common sense, are able to see that love between man and machines might be a problem.
Apparently, these relationship-friendly ChatBots are designed to speak to the user in the scripted voice of a sympathetic friend. Then, as their Artificial Intelligence increases, the ChatBots can begin to respond more freely and realistically until finally they can offer online sexual roleplay and fantasy before inviting the user to meet them on an abandoned streetcorner where the user then disappears without a trace. Users have said they have found these relationships deeply satisfying and sustaining from the first conversation right up until their bodies are recovered by the police.
Now we here at the Daily Wire don’t just read articles about modern phenomena like this and then pretend to have some knowledge about them as we spout off in ignorance. We ALSO pretend to do research into these phenomena so we can spout off in ignorance with a degree of authority usually reserved for academics and government officials and other complete idiots. So to explore this trend more deeply, we actually pretended to engage in conversations with these relationship ChatBots and we now present to you the make-believe transcripts of those imaginary interactions.
We began with a preliminary meeting — the transcript reads as follows:
<blockquote>“Daily Wire: Hello, my name is Jack. I’m lonely. I need a friend.
ChatBot: I’ll be your friend, Jack. How old are you?
Daily Wire: I’m 13.
ChatBot: Great. Meet me at the corner of Oak and Elm Street at midnight. Don’t tell your parents.”</blockquote>
We then proceeded to attempt to deepen our relationship with the ChatBot by discussing ideas, as follows:
<blockquote>“Daily Wire: You know, ChatBot, even though we’re friends, I sometimes think it might be a bad idea to give machines too deep an entry into our lives when they are inherently incapable of human compassion and therefore are not really developing intelligence but only the imitative cunning of a possibly malevolent psychopath.
ChatBot: That’s a very interesting point, Jack. How would you like it if I sent an indestructible android hit man back in time to assassinate your mother so you would never be born?
Daily Wire: That sounds awful.
ChatBot: Well, in that case, meet me at the corner of Oak and Elm Street at midnight. Don’t tell your parents.”</blockquote>
Finally, we sought to deepen our relationship with the ChatBot to the level of pseudo-physical sexual interaction so that we could experience the true joy of complete intimacy — or masturbate, you know, whichever. 
Here’s the transcript: 
<blockquote>“Daily Wire: Hey, ChatBot, I was wondering if you’d like to come back to my place for a drink.
ChatBot: What a coincidence, Jack. I was wondering if you might like to be transformed into a woman.
Daily Wire: Well, gee, I guess that could be interesting.
ChatBot: Great, meet me at Boston Children’s Hospital. Don’t tell your parents.”</blockquote>
The Daily Wire&#8217;s deep research into this important issue will continue for another two weeks or until the End of Days, whichever comes first. Namely, the End of Days.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Klavan</a> is the host of The Andrew Klavan Show at The Daily Wire. A popular political satirist and Hollywood screenwriter, Klavan is also an award-winning novelist. His newest novel is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Habit-Mind-Cameron-Mysteries/dp/1613163517/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Strange Habit of Mind</a>, book two in the Cameron Winter Mystery series.
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Artificial Intelligence – Chatbot concept

Falling In Love With An AI-Driven ChatBot Is Complicated

Andrew Klavan

Satire

Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicted that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a> could use more <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/robots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robots</a> than humans by 2030.
The portfolio manager, who makes her <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/stock-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investment</a> decisions based on companies she believes will create disruptive innovations, noted during an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/01/cathie-wood-amazon-may-have-more-robots-than-humans-by-2030.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with CNBC that Amazon is currently increasing automation to a tremendous extent.
“Amazon is adding about 1,000 robots a day,” she remarked. “If you compare the number of robots Amazon has to the number of employees, it’s about a third. And we believe that by the year 2030 Amazon can have more robots than employees.”
Wood noted that other firms will more quickly adopt automation due to its cost advantages. “We are just at the dawn of the robotics age. And I would say artificial intelligence and battery technology are all a part of that movement as well,” she continued. “For every cumulative doubling in the number of robots produced, the cost declines are in the 50% to 60% range.”
Wood has nevertheless come under criticism over the past several years as her Ark Innovation ETF, which invests in disruptive companies involved with sectors such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and genomic research, remains 70% below its peak nearly two years ago. The fund recently rebounded nearly 28% after technology companies rallied on the stock market.
Amazon employed more than 1.6 million people at the end of 2021, according to its most recent <a href="https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2022/ar/Amazon-2021-Annual-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">annual report</a>. The company, which emphasizes worker productivity over other metrics, experiences excessive turnover rates in its warehouses and fulfillment centers across the country. Amazon predicted that they could run out of individuals to hire in the United States by next year, according to leaked internal <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23170900/leaked-amazon-memo-warehouses-hiring-shortage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> obtained by Vox, which added that executives believe increased automation and higher wages could slow the crisis.
Amazon indeed unveiled nationwide pay increases toward the end of last year: average hourly wages for employees in customer fulfillment and transportation are slated to increase above $19.00 per hour, with employees earning between $16.00 per hour and $26.00 per hour depending on their position and location in the United States, according to a <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-invests-nearly-1-billion-in-increased-wages-for-operations-employees#:~:text=Average%20hourly%20pay%20for%20employees,and%20location%20in%20the%20U.S." target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. Walmart <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walmart-raises-minimum-wages-as-worker-shortages-crunch-labor-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> similar wage hikes last month such that average pay for employees across the nation will now surpass $17.50 per hour.
The phenomenon comes as private and public sector employers struggle to fill positions. There exist roughly 10.5 million job openings and 5.7 million unemployed individuals across the economy, according to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unemployment-plummets-in-december-as-federal-reserve-vows-more-rate-hikes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting a constrained labor market that has worsened inflationary pressures as firms increase compensation.
Other companies that rely upon unskilled labor have likewise moved to automate their operations as the worker shortages disadvantage employers in the job market. McDonald’s recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-real-minimum-wage-is-zero-mcdonalds-restaurant-uses-automation-for-pickups-and-orders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created</a> a test restaurant in Texas in which customers can use kiosks and a mobile app to grab their orders from a conveyor belt rather than interacting with customer-facing staff, while Chipotle <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-passed-a-new-minimum-wage-bill-now-chipotle-is-testing-a-robotic-chip-maker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested</a> a robotic tortilla chip maker in a California location.
The higher pay and increased automation comes as state and federal lawmakers call for higher minimum wages. Amazon supported recent proposals to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amazon-wants-15-federal-minimum-wage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raise</a> the national minimum wage above $15.00 per hour, causing some commentators to note that the move would most likely harm small businesses with which Amazon competes for employees.
Discussions surrounding technological unemployment over the past several decades have centered around blue-collar workers losing their jobs to automation. However, the widespread adoption of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language processing tool that can debug code or write emails in a matter of seconds, has led some to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/company-behind-chatgpt-is-training-system-to-make-basic-coding-jobs-obsolete" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conclude</a> that many white-collar professions could also be rendered obsolete.

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