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PETA Wants to Replace Punxsutawney Phil With an Animatronic AI

posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 03 2020, @09:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-a-tough-life dept.

upstart from IRC writes:

PETA wants to replace Punxsutawney Phil with an animatronic AI:

When we imagine the future of artificial intelligence, we tend to think of the technology making most human jobs obsolete. But if PETA has its way, an AI could also take over for the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. In a letter signed by PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk, the organization calls on the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the group that takes care of the world-famous woodchuck, to allow the rodent to retire and let a robot like Sony's adorable Aibo dog take over the job of predicting the weather.

"Using technologically advanced electromechanical devices such as animatronics instead of live animals is more popular than ever," wrote Newkirk. "We even have the technology to create an animatronic groundhog with artificial intelligence (AI) that could actually predict [PETA's emphasis, not Engadget's] the weather."

The way the group sees it, not only would an AI be better at estimating when the winter will end, but it would also attract an entirely new generation of visitors to the western Pennsylvanian town. "Today's young people are born into a world of terabytes, and to them, watching a nocturnal rodent being pulled from a fake hole isn't even worthy of a text message," Newkirk said. "Ignoring the nation's fast-changing demographics might well prove the end of Groundhog Day."

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Farkus888 on Tuesday February 04 2020, @12:00AM (2 children)

    by Farkus888 (5159) on Tuesday February 04 2020, @12:00AM (#953347)

    I can feel their overwhelming concern and love for Phil in the fact that they can't even be bothered to know when he sleeps. Like many PETA announcements, this is just designed to get clicks and make us rant about Ingrid being diabetic and where her insulin comes from.

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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday February 04 2020, @12:30AM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday February 04 2020, @12:30AM (#953352) Homepage

    All PETA should be deported to fucking China. There's plenty there to keep them busy.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:29AM (#953444)

    I got to that and wondered if I was the one who was incorrect in their understanding. I checked multiple sites to make sure, but no they were wrong. Interestingly though, while in a mood for web searches, I did run into interesting information about PETA's tacit support for violent direct action, campaigning to make pets or service animals illegal, as well as being pro-euthanasia and pro-killing of shelter animals.