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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 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 36 points 3 months ago (12 children)

Let's say that there is a single player MMO where all the other players are played by AI, but it is done so well that you can't really see the difference from real-human MMO players.

Would you play this? I would not. The fact that there is a human on the other side is important, even though it does not make any practical difference. Same with birthday wishes - that's way Facebook did not automate "Happy birthday!" even though it could.

Would you upload your personal data and voice to Open AI for it to make a a birthday wishes call to your mom? So convinient! She won't know the difference, and you get a 5 bulletpoint summary afterwards! Such a hellscape.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I want an MMO where 90+% of the "players", are AI.

5% of the players are idk, "cylons" or vampires, or "outlaws" or whatever, and they have to hide among the townspeople. They need to act like AI. They need to think like AI. But they have objectives to destroy the ship, or gather an army of vampire spawn, or rob the bank, or whatever. To do this, they need to look like AI. They need to act like AI. They need to think like AI.

5% of the players are the "heroes" or "main characters" or "vampire hunters" or whatever. They are outed but have bonus powers. They have to route out the vampires or cylons or outlaws; whatever.

Basically a giant online game of mafia. Give the baddies special powers, give the heroes special powers. Weapons, armors, disguises, leveling, etc.. etc.. basic game mechanics.