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SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

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Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#161

Post by gamblor956 »

chatmasta wrote: post #159
gamblor956 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how product liability laws work in the U.S. or in the E.U. The first time a child gets harmed by a robot, the company making that robot will go spectacularly bankrupt. If a child gets killed by a robot, it would likely end the consumer robotics industry for a decade or more.

Teslas have killed probably hundreds of people at this point and the only changes to self-driving laws have been to allow more of it.

Tesla sales have cratered in all but 2 countries.

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#162

Post by gamblor956 »

chatmasta wrote: post #160
gamblor956 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robot vacuums have been around for a decade now. Some are apparently decent. Nobody really cares. Robot vacuums are still a single digit % of the vacuum market. It turns out that saving a few minutes on housework isn't something people are willing to spend thousands, or even hundreds, of dollars on when the cheaper options are more versatile and more robust.

I would pay $10k for a robot that wakes up when I leave for work, does all the household chores, then goes to sleep before I return home to a house with dishes cleaned and put away, clothes washed and folded, clutter organized, surfaces cleaned, floors vacuumed and climate exactly how I want it… I absolutely hate doing these chores to the point I rarely do them and go through cycles of two weeks of gradually disorgan…

Most people don't have thousands of dollars lying around to purchase a robot. The market of people who have that sort of money to spend on a discretionary purchase of that magnitude is in the low 6 figures globally.

That tech bros glibly assume that a freakishly expensive appliance is everybody's must-buy is part of why most people now have extremely strong negative feelings toward tech.

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#163

Post by alasdair_ »

elzbardico wrote: post #136
tclancy wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but I was kinda hoping Hannah Arendt’s lessons had been internalized and we would progress. More the fool I.

One thing that I've been noticing more and more, is that it looks like every dystopic work of art, be it 1984, brave new world or idiocracy, ends up being used as an instruction manual. So far we were implementing only the first two ones, with AI, it looks like we decided to accelerate Idiocracy implementation too.

Torment Nexus springs to mind

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#165

Post by ssl-3 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #25
ssl-3 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's good that they're testing things in different places. Environments vary. But hundreds of millions sounds like enough money to get some industrial or dead commercial space (even in/around SF) and outfit it to be like an apartment. Or six different ones, and six others two weeks from now, and two weeks after that. The cost of the space and the carpenters/painters/drywallers/handymen/managers/whatevers woul…

They want realistic randomness in the apartment layouts. This is a quick, effective way to get that. If they were honest with the hosts, it wouldn’t even be a bad idea.

I assure you that if randomness is the order of the day, then involving handymen to arrange things is a sure-fire method of getting there.

The cheaper the handymen come, the better the randomness is.

One doesn't even have to tell them to be random; that part happens all on its own in the ways that real apartments ebb and flow.

And the handymen themselves can be rotated out every couple of weeks, as well. The cost of rotation is low. The handymen are plentiful, and they are happy to get hired for a day here or there for literal odd jobs.

(If anyone wants even more practical solutions for robot testing facilities that don't make headlines by pissing people off, please put your contact information in the space provided by pushing the "Reply" button. Thanks!)

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#166

Post by throwaway2025_1 »

alasdair_ wrote: post #163
elzbardico wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that I've been noticing more and more, is that it looks like every dystopic work of art, be it 1984, brave new world or idiocracy, ends up being used as an instruction manual. So far we were implementing only the first two ones, with AI, it looks like we decided to accelerate Idiocracy implementation too.

Torment Nexus springs to mind

Oooh, just what I need for my spam and troll trap!

I'd planned on feeding the spam to the trolls but it seemed a like unethical and prone to obesity. Plus cross breeding could be a problem.

Can I install it in an AirBnB or do they come pre-fitted?

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#167

Post by pjc50 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #154
pjc50 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be surprised. I think Waymo have already proven this; not perfectly safe, but below the care threshold. And the demand for childcare is huge . Of course, what then happens is how the ensuing child neglect case falls out. We're probably going to end up with the situation where the burden "it is considered criminal child endangerment to leave your child alone with the robot" falls on the parents, not on the robot…

That's not how product liability laws work in the U.S. or in the E.U. The first time a child gets harmed by a robot, the company making that robot will go spectacularly bankrupt. If a child gets killed by a robot, it would likely end the consumer robotics industry for a decade or more.

People tried to hold gun manufacturers liable for dead children, and the law was simply changed to exempt them.

Robots and AI have too much money to be held liable.

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#168

Post by iknowstuff »

rsynnott wrote: post #130
iknowstuff wrote: post #41

The fact that this made it to the news cycle is indicative enough of the airbnb owner smelling money once they found out a robotics company is involved, regardless of the extent of damage/wear

Eh? This sort of corporate misbehaviour would obviously make the news; it’s both scummy and just bizarre. That makes for good news.

How does it make it to a reporter?

Re: SF startup is testing robots in Airbnbs, and trashing them, lawsuit claims

#169

Post by ben_w »

pjc50 wrote: post #167
gamblor956 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how product liability laws work in the U.S. or in the E.U. The first time a child gets harmed by a robot, the company making that robot will go spectacularly bankrupt. If a child gets killed by a robot, it would likely end the consumer robotics industry for a decade or more.

People tried to hold gun manufacturers liable for dead children, and the law was simply changed to exempt them. Robots and AI have too much money to be held liable.

Perhaps, but also the US has the 2nd amendment and it seems (from the outside) to be a big part of their culture.

I don't think AI in general has that benefit despite people occasionally trying to criticise AI companies who restrict the output of LLMs by reference to the 1st amendment; robotics in particular definitely doesn't have that benefit.

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