Sleepless in Midland

AI article writers are everywhere

An interesting article appearing in the Wall Street Journal contains an item honestly described as a fake news article created by artificial intelligence.

My favorite line: "Johnson hopes to find another place on Earth to explore to, but one that's closer than most -- the moon." It's not perfect, but it would provide fillers between ads for those newspapers that can no longer afford to seek real news.

Type 'ai article writer' in your favorite search engine and see all the software available to write articles for you. It's an interesting concept, but the quality is lacking, at least in the example they offered.

Editors' notes:
Hey, Sleepless, I could do it for this blog! Robo-ed
Well, it takes artificial intelligence. You've got the artificial nailed, but the intelligence is lacking. Sleepless
I heard that! Robo-ed

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1:58 PM 10/15/2019

White robots - racism. But what about refrigerators?

Wide awake and woke folks are scanning the horizon for anything that could plausibly, or implausibly, be called racist.  It's a tribute to their imagination that they hit on white robots. But they've strained so hard they can't see straight.

Robot racism? Yes, says a study showing humans' biases extend to robots.

But why stop there? If an inanimate object can trigger racism, how about all those white appliances in our kitchens? I've got a white refrigerator that just seems to purr racism much of the time. Some might say it's just the motor running, but don't you believe it. It's racism, pure and simple.

Then there's the oven. White, again. And it can cause pain, too, if it isn't treated respectfully. Has to be racism.

Actually, what we have here is an overeager effort to ascribe racism to someone or thing. It's time to give it a rest. Better yet, as Joseph Epstein suggest, it's time to put the word "racist" on the list of banned words.

Related: Woke Polar Bear Apologizes For Being White.

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1:43 PM 8/3/2019

Robots -- is there anything they won't be able to do?

Andres Oppenheimer talked on C-Span the other day about his new book, The Robots Are Coming. He contends that much of what humans do these days will in the future be done by robots.

As an example, he told about a hotel he visited in Japan that had robots doing what humans typically did. Sure enough, there's an article online about such a hotel, quite possibly the one he talked about. See 'Strange' hotel, run by robots, opens near Tokyo; more to come. The clerk behind the counter was a robot disguised as a dinosaur -- hey, it's Japan.

In the meantime, here are a few other things new robots can do:

A Robot Leg Learned to Walk by Itself Without Programming, in a Scarily Short Time;
It’s Hard To Win At Poker Against An Opponent With No Tell; and
Study: Robots Capable Of Developing Prejudice On Their Own. (Gasp! Wait til the social justice warriors hear about that one!)

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2:08 PM 7/14/2019

Maybe robots could keep us around for pets

It wasn't too awfully long ago that smart folks in the media took a break from warning of the danger of Donald Trump to warn about robots with artificial intelligence. See for example, warnings such as these: Elon Musk warns of AI's risks, calls for regulation now; Stephen Hawking: AI could be a 'real danger'; and Robots could 'threaten humanity' and will be physically stronger than humans "in the next few years", warns scientist.

Well, I always thought the robots might be human enough to want to keep humans as pets. After all, they generally clean up after themselves.

But then along came this one: Kalashnikov Group Announces Fully-Automated Combat Robots. Mikhail Kalashnikov, you will recall, was the inventor of the AK-47 which has been described as the most effective killing machine in human history. So now they've given it a brain. A Terminator. Swell.

Meanwhile, the smart folks in the media have gone back to bashing Trump. So I guess all is well.

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2:45 PM 1/8/2018

Candy-gram for Mongo -- robot bomb delivery for Dallas shooter

The active shooter situation in Dallas -- in which five police officers were murdered -- was resolved when the shooter was dispatched with a fist full of C4 delivered by remote control robot.

According to one TV report, CNN I think, the robot carried the explosive up to the opposite side of a cinder block wall against which the killer was leaning. The explosive was discharged, and the killer was killed.

For some reason commentators are concerned about what they perceive as an ethical issue. Apparently, they think a killer shouldn't be killed unless the police officer puts him/self at risk. Some ethical issue.

News flash: By ambushing his opponents, the killer essentially waived the gentleman's rules of dueling. Or more to the point, violate the rules of decency and all rules are off.

Meanwhile, long time readers of Sleepless in Midland will remember our fondness for police robots. See previously:
Fire in the Hole;
The 1st annual MPD Open House; and
MPD Open house.

goodbye fast food staff, hello robot at Eatsa

Since the rise of the very vocal movement to hike the minimum wage, bloggers have been predicting increased mechanization of the fast food business accompanied by a decrease in the number of employees.

It's happening.

Meet Eatsa. It's a highly mechanized fast food joint currently with stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The customer uses tablet technology to place his order, and when his name pops up on a window, he opens the door and grabs his food.

The menu consists of quinoa (hipster rice) bowls with a variety of toppings chosen by the buyer. The price seems reasonable at $6.95 per bowl.

But it's not all robots. There are job openings for humans.

Actually, except for the tablet technology, the idea isn't exactly new. TCM fans may recall movies made in the '50s with scenes in cafes with similar food dispensing vending machines.

P.S. I haven't visited a Starbucks in a while, but that business seems like one that could easily transition to a vending machine dispensing system.  That probably helps keep down the cost of a barista.

Enhanced Human Operations -- put it to use on football players

Even non-football fans couldn't avoid hearing about the slug fest that took place between the Bengals and the Steelers last week end. No one wants to see players get hurt, whether intentionally or not, and the helmets in use these days are probably as good as current technology will allow.

But there may be more work to be done with body protection. DARPA is working on what they call Enhanced Human Operations for military use. So why not apply some of that technology to pro-football?

Put them in Iron Man suits and let them go at it.

NFL -- when MMA is not enough.

Let the robot write the blog

Robots are doing all sorts of things these days, from laying bricks to telling stories to preschoolers. Hey, they can even write blog posts!

Sleepless in Midland has had a robot editor for quite some time. So maybe it's time to promote him to writer. Let's try it out. Get busy, Robo-Ed.

Danger Will Robinson. -- Robo-Ed

Huh?

Does not compute. Does not compute. -- Robo-Ed

Screw your head on right and write.

I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that. -- Robo-Ed

Oh for crying out loud. Is this the best you an do?

You can kiss my shiny metal ass. -- Robo-Ed

Hmm. Lacks some originality. Oh well, it was worth a try. Maybe I should bring in that storytelling robot.