So, what exactly is the big deal about this child's toy Hatchimals? They are little fuzzy, speaking toys that initially hatch from an egg. Well, this toy actually relates to quite a few of the themes that we have discussed in the class. Before I get into that discussion however, watch this trailer to see exactly what Hatchimals are...
As you can see from the video, these little creatures are supposed to create excitement and joy for the whole entire family. The interesting thing about this toy is that they incorporate machine learning into their software. This is where the themes of the class start overlapping with this toy. As time goes on, the child owner of the toy is supposed to be teaching the Hatchimal how to speak, and it will progressively learn new words and new ways to speak. This toy is similar to the hot 90's toy called Furbies. Hatchimals was the hottest Christmas 2016 item and it was almost impossible to find. It immediately sold out on the shelves and had insane lines for back-orders. There are even funny YouTube videos of people going out into the black market in sketchy alleys in order to buy the toy.
Even though this toy had unprecedented popularity, there has been some unfortunate downfalls to this toy, however. many users from various locations around the world have complained of the toy using foul language while Hatching and/or sleeping. This language includes things such as saying, "F*** me". Although it may not directly be saying this, it does sound as if it is mumbling this phrase. Listen to the news article below that explains the situation:
From this video you can hear the mumbling of the Hatchimals while they are sleeping sounding similar to the phrase stated earlier. They interviewed people near the end to see if they actually heard this phrase. Some claimed to be shocked and appalled and others claimed that it is just making sounds while it sleeps.
Regardless of if the toy is actually mumbling these phrases, it got me thinking about machine learning and possible nefarious intent of people creating AI and other machine learning capabilities. Could this futuristic technology lead to the demise of humanity? I personally believe that this technology is extremely fascinating and has endless possibilities for the future.
Speaking of taking this technology into the future, I think another topic we discussed in class is vital to this discussion. That topic is Accelerationism. I think this topic is also relevant because if this was a simple mistake, it could have been because the developers were trying to rush this toy out due to its high demand. Although a loose connection to Accelerationism, I believe that in general, it is important to not rush these new AI inventions. They are extremely advanced and we want to be sure, for the sake of humanity, that we are under complete control of our inventions. It may be easy to want to rush design process and get as many new technologies at once, but I personally feel it is important to take a step back and ensure everything is under complete control.
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