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Google Assistant fired a gun: We need to talk
For better or worse, Google Assistant can do it all. From mundane tasks like turning on your lights and setting reminders to convincingly mimicking human speech patterns, the AI helper is so capable it's scary. Its latest (unofficial) ability, though, is a bit more sinister. Artist Alexander Reben recently taught Assistant to fire a gun. Fortunately, the victim was an apple, not a living being. The 30-second video, simply titled "Google Shoots," shows Reben saying "OK Google, activate gun." Barely a second later, a buzzer goes off, the gun fires, and Assistant responds "Sure, turning on the gun." On the surface, the footage is underwhelming -- nothing visually arresting is really happening. But peel back the layers even a little, and it's obvious this project is meant to provoke a conversation on the boundaries of what AI should be allowed to do.
As Reben told Engadget, "the discourse around such a(n) apparatus is more important than its physical presence." For this project he chose to use Google Assistant, but said it could have been an Amazon Echo "or some other input device as well." At the same time, the device triggered "could have been a back massaging chair or an ice cream maker."
But Reben chose to arm Assistant with a gun. And given the concerns raised by Google's Duplex AI since I/O earlier this month, as well as the seemingly never-ending mass shootings in America, his decision is astute.
"OK Google, No more talking." / "OK Google, No more Mr. Nice Guy." / "OK Google, This is America." / "OK Google, [Trigger word]."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 31 2018, @11:08PM (4 children)
But there were a couple of stories, not long ago, about Google. Let me tell you, for a long time Google didn't want to do work for our military. When President Clinton (Bill), Bush Jr. & Obama were in charge. And the folks at Google said, Google cyber can make our military very powerful. But the guy running our Country -- our President -- is INCOMPETENT. And our cyber, possibly, could be put to very foolish uses. Against our allies, against very nice countries, even against our own people.
So Google wouldn't take any new military contracts. They bought the #1 military robot company, Boston Dynamics. Ethanol-fueled can tell you all about that. And they worked on the contract that Boston Dynamics already had. The robot dog for the United States Marine Core. Let me tell you, they did a terrible job. They made it VERY LOUD. And that's no good. Because the way to win in war is to be QUIET. Except when you're shooting & bombing. And possibly the bosses at Google thought I'd do a terrible job like my predecessors. So they sold Boston Dynamics to my friends in Japan.
But now the folks at Google see that I'm doing an incredible job. We have tremendous talent, and our talent and our strength is being respected again. Prosperity is booming, optimism is surging, and America is winning. We truly are Making America Great Again. But most importantly our Country is respected again all over the world. We're not making apologies, we're not making excuses. We're respected again as a Country. No more apologies! Our confidence is back -- I'm the confidence President. And the folks at Google said, "we love President Trump. We love America. And we love money." A lot of love there, believe me. So they signed up with my DOD, my Defense Department. For Project Maven, so important. It's about giving our drones amazing eyesight. Like our beautiful bald eagles, except it's cyber. So our drone pilots can relax. And let the cyber find the targets. Find the sick or bad dudes on my kill list. Amazing cyber, it's going to be a great thing for our Country.
And the first related story was about how thousands of the Google workers -- the ones who hate our military, who hate our Country, who don't want us to win -- got very energized. And they signed a letter saying, please cancel. Don't do Project Maven. And don't do any projects for the Pentagon, for the Defense Department.
But -- and this is the 2nd related story -- the big bosses at Google didn't agree. They said, "we love money, we love America, and most of all we love President Trump." God bless them. And about a dozen workers -- could be less -- quit. Thousands signed the letter -- we all love to sign our names, right? -- about a dozen quit. I think we can handle that, right? Even if it's treason -- can we call it treason? Why not?
And this story, I love to read the articles. But frankly, I didn't read the article. Because it's one guy, it's a lone gunman. It's unofficial, it's not a guy at Google, or of Google. Just a guy who loves to shoot. And he's not even shooting people yet. He shot an Apple with cyber. Every day, so many people get shot, this was an Apple. While, as I said, Google is officially working on cyber eyes for our drones. To drop bombs -- I dropped the biggest bomb since WWII -- on A LOT of bad dudes. And probably some Apples.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @11:59PM (2 children)
Every time I read one of your posts, I am both deeply horrified and...
Well, actually I'm just deeply horrified.
This is like season of 9 of Dallas, right? I'm going to wake up any minute now, go to work, and then look forward to watching the presidential debate between Bernie Sanders and John Kasich.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @05:25AM (1 child)
I want to know who/what this is. I mean...
It almost reads like a (almost) successful attempt at the turning test.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @01:02PM
“Almost” because of taking the wrong turn?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @12:50AM
realDonaldTrump (6614) [soylentnews.org] wrote [soylentnews.org]:
Oh, and it isn't "United States Marine Core", it's "United States Marine Corp."