Hi, y’all! The EU championship is over. To be honest, I am not a big follower, but I know who has won. I noticed the turmoil of discussing the role of VAR in negatively influencing the game. I was thinking: Is this also part of our different relationship with reality? Do we trust analog thinking when we can access exact digital referees? Or are these kinds of applications the fuel for a backlash?
In the meantime, I received the latest gadget I ordered. A rare occasion in the last years. Maybe I got tired of all gadgets I got in the last decade, or the newness is not so destinctive anymore. Anyhow, Rabbit R1 has arrived, and I was able to test some of it’s features, in between running activities…
Two short observations -apart from all earlier reviews on the complex interaction especially navigating through the menus and the underwhelming applications that are available. Not so much even apps, because they promised a different model of use: the LAM, action-based modeling.
On the positive side, I can imagine that the translator function can work in a social context with multiple people around the table. The push-to-talk drives a more structured conversation and less confusion for the AI than if it was just there lying in between a conversation.
Rather disappointing was the lack of contextual intelligence, especially in the spatial sense. I took a picture of a building in Amsterdam, and it referenced it to Rotterdam as it looks more like a typical high rise. That should be possible to do better. Even when I provided Rabbit with the situational context it still was not able to try to link the image to existing images of buildings, make that comparison, conclude what building and provide me with extra information.
I will keep trying; Maybe my prompts should be more specific. But with the right consciousness on anonymity.
Also, I would opt for a text-based interface, but hey, that is what the phone-based AIs promise, of course. Apple Intelligence is delayed, but I cannot imagine a better fulfillment of the functions than a phone for most of the use cases now.
Triggered thought
Listening to Poki podcast on AI (Dutch) where the Character.ai service was discussed. It has existed for a longer time already. Still, with the acceptance or adaptation of AI as a logical partner, we see that these new forms of artificial realities become real realities.
We not only use this kind of AI personality for reflection or fun but also start living together. And that living together is more than caring for a Tamagotchi. However, some of the same principles are at work; we like to dedicate human characteristics to things that feel and behave like humans. I am wondering if we would have relations with non-human-like but conversational-behaving things.
Before this happens, we will get used to more psychological conversational pals in our chats. This is of course already more than a decade-old idea, the service agents as conversational agents are as concept as old as the internet and even older. The execution and specifically the intuitive character and generative behavior, lowers the barrier and makes it more valuable. And we got more dependent on it, which was also addressed in the podcast in relation to the changes to the service of character.ai, when they toned down the intimate interactions. People find it much harder to let these types of tools go than if you lose a book in your digital library. So that gives a bigger lock-in effect and vulnerability for influencing.
It could become tricky when intelligent social companions feed conspiracy theories and even link people to opinions. Naming and shaming in the age of character bots is super dangerous for a polarized world. There might be a positive strategy, too; see the paper for this week below. Character.ai might need an “only fans” version…
Read the full newsletter, with
- Notions from last week’s news on Human-AI partnerships, Robotic performances, Immersive connectedness, and Tech societies
- Paper for the week
- Looking forward with events to visit
I started blogging ideas and observations back in 2005 via Targetisnew.com. Some years ago, I started a weekly update with links to the news and reflections. I always capture news on tech and societal impact from my perspective and interest. In the last few years, it has focused on the relationship between humans and tech, particularly AI, IoT, and robotics.
The notions from the news are distributed via the weekly newsletter, which is also archived online here. Every week, I reflect more on one topic, a triggered thought.
I share that thought here and redirect it to my newsletter for an overview of news, events, and more. Feel invited to reach out if you need some reflections; I might be able to help out!
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