In this Data Point, Frank ponders the ethical, spiritual, and philosophical implications of chat bots designed to be “virtual shells” of dearly departed. Stories Mentioned How a Man Turned His Dying Father Into AI The Story Behind Replika, the AI app that becomes you
Chat bots going rogue seem to be the new norm and it looks like China has two new virtual dissidents. What’s going on here? Are these bugs in the software? Or are the bots thinking for themselves and drawing their own conclusions for good and for ill?
While Frank is playing with robots in Pittsburgh, Andy is packing boxes for “Christmas in July.” There, he reflects on how data is helping charities better help people. Mentioned in this *DataPoint*: Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child, The Honduras Project, Prison Fellowship.
Frank, while at the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh, finds a robot to read his intro line and ponders what it takes for AI systems to be successful. They don’t need to be perfect: they need to be better than humans.
Frank is at the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh admiring the robotics exhibit when he notices a stark contrast. The vision of robots that Hollywood created hasn’t quite translated to reality.