Elon Musk and co may relish march of the robots but there must be AI boundaries in the workplace | Heather Stewart
K-pop androids and automated artists: welcome to South Korea’s strange and ambitious robot theme park
Distressed riders who were stranded for hours say Apollo Go customer service agents offered ‘useless platitudes’
A “system malfunction” has caused several self-driving robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China, police have confirmed, after distressed riders were stranded for hours.
Local authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said they began receiving calls “one after another” on Tuesday night from riders reporting that autonomous vehicles operated by the Chinese internet company Baidu had frozen.
Continue reading...Kathy Hochul backed away from allowing robotaxi services in smaller cities, though Waymo still plans to move ahead in New York City
New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has pulled her proposal to allow commercial robotaxi services in smaller cities outside New York City, a spokesperson for the governor said on Thursday.
“Based on conversations with stakeholders, including in the legislature, it was clear that the support was not there to advance this proposal,” the spokesperson said.
Continue reading...At its new Stone Mountain, Georgia, facility, Roomba-like robots shuffle between stacks, another adds shipping labels while another arranges packages in pallets
One of the reasons Amazon is spending billions on robots? They don’t need bathroom breaks. Arriving a few minutes early to the public tour of Amazon’s hi-tech Stone Mountain, Georgia, warehouse, my request to visit the restroom was met with a resounding no from the security guard in the main lobby.
Between the main doors and the entrance security gate, I paced and paced after being told I would have to wait for the tour guide to collect me and other guests for a tour of the 640,000-sq-ft, four-story warehouse.
Continue reading...The message of Zootropolis 2 | In praise of Martin Kettle | Miles Kington’s dog | Defining the north
I beg to differ with Peter Bradshaw’s view that “no mainstream film is attacking Donald Trump’s administration head-on” (The Golden Globes ceremony ignored politics. But their big winner taps today’s unhappy turbulence, 12 December). We took our two granddaughters to see Zootropolis 2, in which a diverse pair of detectives (a fox and a rabbit) took on a narcissistic leader, demonstrating the importance and joy of all things DEI. Well done, Disney!
Peter Kettle
Gravesend, Kent
• I was saddened to read that Martin Kettle’s column this week will be his last (The world of today looks bad, but take hope: we’ve been here before and got through it – and we will again, 15 January). We shall miss his brilliant prose, shrewd political analysis and fierce intellect. With his departure, journalism will have lost a giant.
Malcolm Bower
Gunnislake, Cornwall
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