It’s been all over Lemmy, but if you haven’t seen it, this is what I’m referring to.
They’re promising autonomy in the future but right now, it’s just controlled remotely by a human user. I don’t think that’s a problem, and in fact, is actually an ideal final method for a specific use case.
If you were alive in the 90s, you probably remember the commercials for LifeAlert, basically a wearable for elderly people that could be used to contact emergency services if (for example) they fell and couldn’t get up. That’s the actual use case for this robot - a new take on LifeAlert. Imagine an elderly person with mobility issues (or whatever) just having this thing in their home. No autonomous functionality, but with the ability for them to call on it to help with whatever tasks they need help with, at which point a human in a remote location could take control of it, perform the task, and then have it go dormant again. This could be anything from “I need help lifting this thing” to “Help me put away my laundry” to “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”. Basically, imagine someone who otherwise would need to live in a nursing home or other assisted living facility instead being able to live independently, getting help as needed from a remote assistant via the robot in their home.
Economically, it would likely be expensive, but a single remote worker could connect to and operate potentially hundreds of these things over the course of a single shift, making it much more economical than a live-in assistant, and much more of an on-demand service. If the agent could talk to the end user through the robot it could even be used for simple assistance like tech support or help reading a medication bottle.
Obviously this still has (some of) the privacy issues the actual advertised use case does, but it’s maybe preferable to not being able to get help when it’s needed.
If they were available now, I would consider getting one for my grandmother.
The problem is, my grandmother does not have internet. Her house is too remote, and I would have to spend $45,000 to get internet to her house, or give money to Elon Musk for Starlink, which I’m not going to do.
That is indeed a great use-case for the bots.
But also they could be useful for other local work that could be done remotely to save money and, more importantly, time. Our maid, gardener or cook could save time to come over and just do their job in their pyjamas from their couch 😁 and we could save ourselves from social interaction as an added bonus. Maybe not the cook though, but Everything else I guess, depending on the bots capabilities (didn’t check)
I’m curious where this may lead to.
I don’t understand the privacy issues. It’s not like you don’t invite random people once in a while to clean your home (if you haven’t, try it. It’s very rewarding, though expensive!)
So if we tolerate strangers cleaning our homes once in a while, why is it a privacy issue if strangers do the task through the robot while also training the AI in the future, for our benefit only?
The privacy concerns are mainly around having cameras and microphones in your home. There’s no guarantee how securely that data is being kept, or that it can’t be hijacked to do something other than exactly what’s advertised, or exactly how it’s being used.
Exactly and when you hire someone, only a few people locally are brought in. If someone has to control the robot than many people all over the world can see in your home and the video is being saved somewhere.
Seemingly mundane information like that can be used for burglary.
Hmmm. Makes sense. Can’t really trust institutions to safeguard our information or our networks. This company better have a stellar CISO.
I don’t understand the privacy issues.
Imagine having a camera and microphone in your house 24/7, with absolutely no guaratee about who is watching or recording you at any point. I realize that a mobile phone isn’t far off that, but you can, at least, cover those.
It’s not like you don’t invite random people once in a while to clean your home
Even if you do have people like cleaners come to your house, it’s at pre-agreed times, and when they’ve left, they’ve gone and can’t continue to watch you.
So if we tolerate strangers cleaning our homes once in a while, why is it a privacy issue if strangers do the task through the robot…
As mentioned before, the cleaner leaves, but the robot can, and let’s face it, will, monitor you 24/7. Worse, the OP’s suggested use case requires the robot to monitor all the time in order to be ready to help. If a senior falls, they may not be able to call out loudly enough to be heard, so either the robot will need to folliw them, or their hone will need to be filled with microphones and cameras, making things even worse.
…while also training the AI in the future, for our benefit only?
You won’t be training the AI for our benefit, you’ll be training it for the benefit of the owners of companies like facebook, x, xAI and other’s like them. That will nit end well, and certainly will not benefit society in general.
Well does the cleaner stay when they are done and wear a microphone and a camera to stream whats going on while they work, to some server their company owns? I know this company will say they are not going to store any data, and it is so safe and private, but we all know they won’t be able to resist to exploit this somehow. At some point they’ll simply be forced to monetise every aspect of their product.
Yeah, the cleaners keep things in their own memory. But not streaming to a server. Good one!
