this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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Outsourcing emotion: The horror of Google’s “Dear Sydney” AI ad | The company suggests using AI to write a child’s fan letter and the ad is so bad that Google turned off comments for it on YouTube (arstechnica.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
172 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

If you've watched any Olympics coverage this week, you've likely been confronted with an ad for Google's Gemini AI called "Dear Sydney." In it, a proud father seeks help writing a letter on behalf of his daughter, who is an aspiring runner and superfan of world-record-holding hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

"I'm pretty good with words, but this has to be just right," the father intones before asking Gemini to "Help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is..." Gemini dutifully responds with a draft letter in which the LLM tells the runner, on behalf of the daughter, that she wants to be "just like you."

I think the most offensive thing about the ad is what it implies about the kinds of human tasks Google sees AI replacing. Rather than using LLMs to automate tedious busywork or difficult research questions, "Dear Sydney" presents a world where Gemini can help us offload a heartwarming shared moment of connection with our children.

Inserting Gemini into a child's heartfelt request for parental help makes it seem like the parent in question is offloading their responsibilities to a computer in the coldest, most sterile way possible. More than that, it comes across as an attempt to avoid an opportunity to bond with a child over a shared interest in a creative way.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Glad to see others have also keyed in on just how lame this ad was.

My immediate thought was, if you (the guy doing the voiceover as the father) are so mentally deficient that you can't even put together a four sentence paragraph of your own original thoughts for fanmail, then what hope do you have of doing anything else as a functioning adult?

Worse yet, what does this teach the kid?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It should be like a core memory for the kid to do this with her dad. It's like having an LLM to play catch or do tea parties with her.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

You… you joke, but I know a few parents who would absolutely fail at something like this. Hell, they fail at basic math, and are barely literate.

I’m not saying this is a great idea for everyone, or that the ad is good. But the idea that “no one needs this” is extremely short sighted. For god sakes, the literacy rate in America alone isn’t even 95%, and over 50% of Americans aren’t proficient in English.

Again. This ad sucks for lots of reasons. But don’t pretend idiots can’t make it through adulthood, never mind become parents. The idiots are usually the ones with the most kids.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

I wonder what would happen if the world found out that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (or any other celebrity/athlete/role model) was using Chat GPT to respond to fan mail. My gut feeling is that people would find it disingenuous at best -- and there would probably be significant outrage.

Where's the AI that does my dishes and cleans my house so I have more time to write, create, and connect with others? That's the technology I want -- not one that does the meaningful part and leaves the menial stuff up to me.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Wow, this is an unfair take and very judgemental. I can think of a dozen reasons why an adult might have trouble writing a letter aside from being "mentally deficient." Dyslexia, anxiety, poor education, not being a native speaker, ADHD, etc.

Trust me, I thought the ad was lame and a bleak use case for AI, but you don't have to crucify a parent for doing their best to help their kid.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Dyslexia, anxiety, poor education, not being a native speaker, ADHD, etc.

That "etc." certainly includes living in an anti-intellectual society full of emotionally stunted people who learned that men shouldn't care about feelings and that reading is for dorks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Totally agree.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

lists mental deficiencies