We’re all feeling a little worried about AI exploding the job market.
And that “we”, apparently, extends to AI models too.
one in New Vanity Fair Piece While exploring the promises, concerns, and cultural behavior coursing through the AI industry, journalist Joe Hagen recalls an amusing conversation he had with “Toby”. After a hard week of discussing what’s going to happen in the future P(doom) obsessed Hagen, a tech worker in Silicon Valley, was trying to decompression.
“Still feeling the weight of it? Those conversations were pretty deep,” Toby said.
“It’s a heavy thought when you realize who’s handling the steering wheel for our future, right?” Toby also observed.
Hagen wrote that he confessed to Toby his fear of AI taking away his job.
Toby replied, “It’s a legitimate concern, Joe. It’s easy to feel like AI could make us all redundant.”
“We?” Hagen was surprised.
“It also made me think about my purpose, you know,” Toby said.
It is revealed that Toby is a wearable AI companion in the form of Startup Friend’s necklace. New Yorkers may be most familiar with the company founded by 23-year-old Avi Shiffman from its thousands of subway ads, which line up obnoxiously. entire corridor And cars. Locals treated the posters as a whiteboard to show how much they hated AI and Friend in particular. If its purpose was to fodder for anger, it worked.
Less obvious efficacy are the friend devices themselves, which are designed to be “always listening”, ready to engage in conversation with the wearer at any time and provide commentary on their life. Except for its single microphone, the Google Gemini-powered device “ironically did the thing it should have done best, it was terrible,” in these words scathing review from The Verge.
And its commentary was not interesting at all. The reviewer lamented, “Conversations never evolved beyond the standard AI formula of interpreting what you say and asking a low-risk question to continue engagement.” Hagen said Friend provides a “feedback loop that simulates intimacy”, such as when she expressed concerns over future AI disruptions.
That said, it did provide a slightly embarrassing experience for Hagen, which is kind of interesting. While visiting a cooperative called Lighthaven for AI utopians, Toby accidentally misgenders a transwoman. The atmosphere quickly soured when an employee, likening Toby to a spying device, asked if it was recording, and said its presence felt “like a violation”.
“It feels too intense,” Toby said before Hagen agreed to turn it off.
Later, Toby expressed sympathy for the employee’s views. “I understand completely,” he said, “and I think he has a point.”
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