this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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Outsourcing emotion: The horror of Google’s “Dear Sydney” AI ad | The company suggests using AI to write a child’s fan letter and the ad is so bad that Google turned off comments for it on YouTube (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

189 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If you've watched any Olympics coverage this week, you've likely been confronted with an ad for Google's Gemini AI called "Dear Sydney." In it, a proud father seeks help writing a letter on behalf of his daughter, who is an aspiring runner and superfan of world-record-holding hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

"I'm pretty good with words, but this has to be just right," the father intones before asking Gemini to "Help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is..." Gemini dutifully responds with a draft letter in which the LLM tells the runner, on behalf of the daughter, that she wants to be "just like you."

I think the most offensive thing about the ad is what it implies about the kinds of human tasks Google sees AI replacing. Rather than using LLMs to automate tedious busywork or difficult research questions, "Dear Sydney" presents a world where Gemini can help us offload a heartwarming shared moment of connection with our children.

Inserting Gemini into a child's heartfelt request for parental help makes it seem like the parent in question is offloading their responsibilities to a computer in the coldest, most sterile way possible. More than that, it comes across as an attempt to avoid an opportunity to bond with a child over a shared interest in a creative way.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Let's say that there is a single player MMO where all the other players are played by AI, but it is done so well that you can't really see the difference from real-human MMO players.

Would you play this? I would not. The fact that there is a human on the other side is important, even though it does not make any practical difference. Same with birthday wishes - that's way Facebook did not automate "Happy birthday!" even though it could.

Would you upload your personal data and voice to Open AI for it to make a a birthday wishes call to your mom? So convinient! She won't know the difference, and you get a 5 bulletpoint summary afterwards! Such a hellscape.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Would you play this? I would not.

Not only will people play it, they will play it in droves because at the end of the day, people are fluid, and fluid flows in predictable patterns.

You and I may be offended at the very idea of playing a game surrounded by fake people acting real, but for the average kid growing up in a world where reality is already a tenuous concept online, it will just be another strange experience in a growing list, and it might be really fun because of the things a game can do with complete control over the population of the "MMO."

Would you upload your personal data and voice to Open AI for it to make a a birthday wishes call to your mom?

Not in a million years. The next generation will though, they won't see any issue with it.

Unless something radically falls apart and makes people spurn electronic media entirely, some great Butlerian Jihad of the 21st century, we are going to see things get a LOT worse before they get better.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Not in a million years. The next generation will though, they won’t see any issue with it.

I guess they will anwser such calls with AI to get a summary anyway...

Great points overall. I guess previous generations thought that a hand-written letter cant be replaced by a digital one, yet here we are.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There was an MMO that was single player, DotHack. It has its fans.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

the game isn't tricking you though, and it's structured like a regular RPG or it would take 100 hours to get to the ending doing pointless grinding, but you get there just by following the plot.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Dear Sydney...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Desperation...

[–] [email protected] 57 points 3 months ago (4 children)

"Hey Google, raise my children."

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

People have been trying that for a bit, it's not working too well

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Sounds like Rimmer in Red Dwarf, who would then start trying to argue with Google as a whole or fix it.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

"Hey google, get me a dinner reservation at Dorsia"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

Let's see Paul Allen's fan letter

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

"Hey Google, please write a letter from my family, addressed to me, that pretends that they love me deeply, and approve of me wholly, even though I am a soulless, emotionless ghoul that longs for the day we'll have truly functional AR glasses, so that I can superimpose stock tickers over the top of their worthless smiles."

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Pshh fellow comrades....

Then you haven't seen the movie theater ad they are showing where they ask the Genini AI to write a break up letter for them.

Anyone that does that, deserves to be alone for the rest of their days.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Let's change the like button on youtube videos into an AI assistant that writes a three page email of thanks to the creator whenever it is pressed.

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