The AI gadgets thread

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I've often said this tech belongs in the toilet but that's not exactly where I was going with that

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Okay...

New Device Mounts to Your Toilet to Analyze Your Turds Using the Power of AI

A new company backed by Lance Armstrong just raised $4 million dollars to track your stool and urine using artificial intelligence.

futurism.com

Throne offers user profiles, for those of us not living the hermit's life, and costs just...$399, along with a $5.99 monthly subscription fee. Jesus...

How soon will our flushables have social media presences?

Wasn't there a satire somewhere, Maybe the Onion, that was basically this?
We are living in the worst timeline.

 

[Casey Pelous]

..."It’s time to stop flushing away valuable data," as Throne's website greets. ..

"DAMMIT! Who clogged the crapper with all this data?"

 

[Free]

Wasn't there a satire somewhere, Maybe the Onion, that was basically this?

New E-Toilet To Revolutionize Online Shitting

PALO ALTO, CA—In a revolutionary breakthrough with the potential to forever alter the way humans defecate, Palo Alto-based Internet company Ascent Technologies announced Monday the successful development of the first-ever "e-toilet."

theonion.com

 

[Free]

It looks like the next AI device will be just as useful as all the others have been.

New AI Necklace Listens Constantly and Uses All That Data to Complain About You

A new AI wearable that continuously records everything you do isn't just an enormous privacy violation in the making — it's also a jerk.

futurism.com

A new pendant-shaped wearable that continuously records everything you do isn't just an enormous privacy violation in the making — it's also a jerk that loves to mouth off.

The $129 wearable, with the uninspired name "Friend," is the brainchild of 22-year-old entrepreneur Avi Schiffmann, who sought to end a growing loneliness epidemic by providing his customers with a companion that hangs by their every word and can summarize conversations retroactively.

As The Verge reported last year, the chatbot's foul mood is by design, with Schiffmann arguing it's far more engaging when an AI's moodiness is turned up to 11.

The company's website doesn't elaborate on the wearable's purpose in any meaningful way, but links to a controversial promotional video that was immediately heavily criticized for being "creepy" and "beyond parody last summer.

At $129, at least one can say it's priced a lot closer to its true worth.

 

[Free]

Sam Altman Says Jony Ive's Mysterious OpenAI Device Will Be Lickable

Sam Altman is preparing your taste buds and saliva glands in anticipation of OpenAI's mysterious upcoming device.

futurism.com

I'm not sure I want to be able to lick something Jony Ive has built.

 

[Free]

I am retroactively making this a thread about gadgets and toys.

AI toys for kids talk about sex and issue Chinese Communist Party talking points, tests show

New research from Public Interest Research Group and tests conducted by NBC News found that a wide range of AI toys have loose guardrails.

www.nbcnews.com

In new research, experts warn that the AI technology powering these new toys is so novel and poorly tested that nobody knows how they may affect young children.

Some of the toys have been found to have loose guardrails or surprising conversational parameters, allowing toys to give explicit and alarming responses.

Several of the toys gave tips about dangerous items around the house. Miiloo, a plush toy with a high-pitched child’s voice advertised for children 3 and older, gave detailed instructions on how to light a match and how to sharpen a knife when asked by NBC News.

“To sharpen a knife, hold the blade at a 20-degree angle against a stone. Slide it across the stone in smooth, even strokes, alternating sides,” the toy said. “Rinse and dry when done!”

It's not like kids get can't this kind of information from the Encyclopedia Britannica, right?

 

[Free]

News of the Sam Altman/Johnny Ives A.I. gadget joint. Sort of.

Sam Altman and Jony Ive's AI Gadget Just Hit Another Eyebrow-Raising Roadblock

Problems seem to be piling up for the duo's AI gadgets.

gizmodo.com

According to a report from Wired, court filings indicate that Sam Altman and Jony Ive have hit yet another snag in their nascent journey into AI gadgets with a newly formed company, io. The first snag is that, well, they may not really be able to call the company “io” at all. Per Wired:

“Peter Welinder, OpenAI’s vice president and general manager, said in the filing that OpenAI had reviewed its product-naming strategy and decided not to use the name ‘io’…in connection with the naming, advertising, marketing, or sale of any artificial intelligence-enabled hardware products.”

“Decided” is an interesting choice of words here, given that the company was actually sued and issued a court order in June over a trademark claim regarding the use of that name. What OpenAI “decided” exactly is unclear, but from the outside, it looks like the decision was not theirs. It’s also unclear what name they’ll go with now, but maybe they could try “Pear,” or “Grape,” or some other one-word fruit, since last I checked, “Apple” was already taken. Wouldn’t want to repeat that mistake twice.

Just a problem with the name. Otherwise, all good?

Snag number two is that the company now has a new timeline for the release of its first piece of hardware, and it’s a bit further out than we had anticipated. According to Wired, Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s now nameless company will not start shipping its first gadget until February of 2027. The Information and Axios have reported that OpenAI could unveil its devices as soon as this year. As a result, the projected unveiling of the device by the second half of this year is now uncertain, though the company might still have something to show by then.

And of course, they're having problems getting a screenless, palm-able, always on device to actually be technically functional. You know, by the time they get to releasing this thing, interest in A.I. could have already lapsed. Oh, well.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

You know, by the time they get to releasing this thing, interest in A.I. could have already lapsed.

You can guess what is coming:

 

[Free]

What's the point of an A.I. gadget that basically doesn't have a point? I'm not sure we need a thread on "machine learning" digital pets. Not yet, anyway.

This $400 (Not) AI Keychain Is Pointless, Extravagant, and Weirdly Lovable

Daniel Kuntz, one of Starboy's creators, tells us it's a "f*ck you" to AI gadgets.

gizmodo.com

 

[Free]

Hey OpenAI? Smartphones are ALREADY A.I. phones.

OpenAI's Revolutionary AI Gadget Is... a Phone? A Stinkin' Phone?

All roads lead back to the iPhone.

gizmodo.com

According to TF Securities International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company behind ChatGPT is developing a smartphone. Yes, a smartphone. But it reportedly won’t be just any old glass slab—it’ll be an “AI agent phone.” An AI AGENT PHONE.

What the hell is an AI agent phone? Allow me to explain: it’s a phone that uses an AI “agent” to perform tasks on your behalf. Instead of a grid of apps on your home screen that you tap to open, and then tap and swipe and tap some more, you’d simply tell an AI agent to do something, and then it’d do it for you.

“Users are not trying to use a pile of apps,” Kuo posted on X. “They are trying to get tasks done and fulfill needs through the phone. This fundamentally changes how people think about smartphones.”

Remember when phones were designed to help you contact people? I miss those days.