The News

We’re entering the robot guy era

Good news for those of you with dreams of having a sweater-wearing, human-sized robot doing chores excruciatingly slowly in your house! US company 1X Technologies has announced Neo, the “first consumer-ready humanoid robot design to transform life at home” (PCMag).

It’s 5'6’’, weighs about 30KG, and is dextrous enough to do tasks like getting a bottle of water from a fridge, folding a shirt or putting things into a dishwasher. You can use voice or an app to control it, and Neo will figure out how to do the task using AI or… call in a remote staff member in a VR headset somewhere to control it...! All this for just about $30k Australian outright, or $750 of rent a month, to be delivered by 2026 — if you get accepted into their program.

The Sizzle: OK, so obviously I don’t love the idea of “random company employees surveilling controlling human-like machine in my house” even if it does have features like automatically blurring faces before video is transmitted. And it’s insanely expensive and slow. WSJ’s Joanna Stern has a great hands-on piece.

But… I feel like we’re finally here! This is a legit humanoid robot that appears to have the physical ability to do actual household tasks. Prices will come down. The big question is whether our current paradigm of AI capabilities puts us a straight line of progression towards truly unmanned robots in the home that can do all these tasks without supervision — or whether we’re still waiting for another breakthrough. I’m not worried about a humanoid robot scanning my home any more than a Roomba.

Although, as the boys at the Down Round podcast often say, the idea of buying some guy just to be in our house will take a bit of getting used to. Would you like a robot guy? Let me know!

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Police are targeting online COM child abuse groups

Australian federal police will target online networks of men who are radicalising young children into violence against themselves and others, its new chief says (ABC News). AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett says “sadistic” online groups “gamifying abuse” in online spaces like Roblox are the focus of a new taskforce (SMH, $). It seems as though she’s talking about COM groups which are the decentralised, international and loose networks that have been linked to school shootings and other horrific violence (FBI).

The Sizzle: I’ve been writing a lot about the teen social media ban and how there’s pretty spotty evidence that it’s going to help young Australians. That doesn’t mean I’m not really worried about what young people are experiencing online. It’s shocking to think that 1 in 10 Australian teens have been sextorted (eSafety). We know there are extremist groups who are trying to use online spaces to recruit young people. Australian authorities have been sounding the alarm about how many of the people they’re investigating are very young. I’m really glad this problem is being taken seriously ^{and not to beat a dead horse can’t help but think that making it naughty for teens to go on social media is going to send them into unregulated spaces and make them less likely to reach out for help if they do get into trouble} .

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OpenAI gets what it wanted

OpenAI has gotten what it wanted and will complete its for-profit transformation (WSJ, gift link). After nearly a year of hurdles, the ChatGPT-maker has officially turned its existing non-profit subsidiary into a “public good corporation” controlled by OpenAI non-profit (OpenAI). All it had to do to achieve this is to extend Microsoft’s exclusive rights to its creations until 2032 and promise to buy $380B of Azure credits, and pinky-promise that its for-profit arm will never put profits ahead of safety (CA AG). And in return, it’s about to get a lot easier for OpenAI to access cash — as if that was an issue — and for its employees to cash out. Oh, and, probably not a coincidence that Altman says he’s hoping to start spending $1.5 trillion a year on infrastructure now (Axios).

Further reading: OpenAI Gets Their Cake and Microsoft Gets Their Stake (Spyglass) 

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Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of the world:

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Oh, Also

Don’t ask. Just click play

If you gave me a million dollars, I couldn’t tell you how I ended up here — but it’s worth it.

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Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

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Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.