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Modern automation has also taken a dark turn— we already got laundry and dishes sorted out decades ago, and the only real developments on the domestic front sin

Modern automation has also taken a dark turn— we already got laundry and dishes sorted out decades ago, and the only real developments on the domestic front since the roomba have been lights that change color when you talk at them. Meanwhile, AI is increasingly threatening to upend creative, high value professions, stuff like law, medicine, communications, journalism, and even software. But at the low end, AI is never going to be the janitor or your garbage guy, or your barista (ordering kiosks aside) or your instacart dude. AI won't unclog your toilet or service your car or make your basement not smell funny. It won't tend the garden or cut the grass or install a new air conditioner or re-shingle a roof. I think the prospect of a world where everyone has their basic needs covered and has to choose to work is scary to people who are used to looking down on certain professions and assuming that no one would do <thing> if they didn't absolutely have to.

peterhadlaw 2y ago
There already are lawn mowing robots.
HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
>AI won't unclog your toilet or service your car or make your basement not smell funny. It won't tend the garden or cut the grass or install a new air conditioner or re-shingle a roof. There are labs training AI robots for these very tasks right now. There are robots that fold laundry and spread peanut butter, right now. We're maximum 1-2 years away from a general all-around robot the way chatgpt is an all around digital assistant.
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- mikepurvis 2y ago
  Willow Garage envisioned in the early 2010s that a successor to the PR2 would be a mass-market bi-manual manipulator able to complete a wide range of household tasks. They folded in 2014. Ten years later, I don't think the state of the art in general purpose robotics is that much further along. Even top tier research robots would struggle to climb the stairs or navigate around my kids' messy bedrooms, much less complete the wide array of tasks that my amazing housekeeper cheerfully and proactively handles for a bit over minimum wage. I'm aware of the 1x Neo, but that has a lot of unknowns— the videos are full of cuts and have significant evidence of teleoperation and no indication of things like lift strength or battery life. What they're purporting to show is simply not aligned with what the state of the art is in perception and manipulation/grasping. They're a long ways from having even the hardware solved, much less the software.
tim333 2y ago
>AI is never going to be the janitor or ... Have you seen the recent side-flipping robot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xLWhqME2Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xLWhqME2Q Combine that with Project Astra https://youtu.be/hIIlJt8JERI?t=39 https://youtu.be/hIIlJt8JERI?t=39 and you are kind of close.

peterhadlaw 2y ago

There already are lawn mowing robots.

HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago

>AI won't unclog your toilet or service your car or make your basement not smell funny. It won't tend the garden or cut the grass or install a new air conditioner or re-shingle a roof. There are labs training AI robots for these very tasks right now. There are robots that fold laundry and spread peanut butter, right now. We're maximum 1-2 years away from a general all-around robot the way chatgpt is an all around digital assistant.

deleted 2y ago
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mikepurvis 2y ago
Willow Garage envisioned in the early 2010s that a successor to the PR2 would be a mass-market bi-manual manipulator able to complete a wide range of household tasks. They folded in 2014. Ten years later, I don't think the state of the art in general purpose robotics is that much further along. Even top tier research robots would struggle to climb the stairs or navigate around my kids' messy bedrooms, much less complete the wide array of tasks that my amazing housekeeper cheerfully and proactively handles for a bit over minimum wage. I'm aware of the 1x Neo, but that has a lot of unknowns— the videos are full of cuts and have significant evidence of teleoperation and no indication of things like lift strength or battery life. What they're purporting to show is simply not aligned with what the state of the art is in perception and manipulation/grasping. They're a long ways from having even the hardware solved, much less the software.

tim333 2y ago

>AI is never going to be the janitor or ... Have you seen the recent side-flipping robot? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xLWhqME2Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xLWhqME2Q Combine that with Project Astra https://youtu.be/hIIlJt8JERI?t=39 https://youtu.be/hIIlJt8JERI?t=39 and you are kind of close.