‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Dots: Always-on agents

767 points · 647 comments · alvis

  1. jesse_dot_id · · focus · HN ↗
    The only reasons I can think for OpenAI and Meta to make their always-on agents cute little cartoons are all nefarious in nature.
    1. guywithahat · · focus · HN ↗
      It could be to market more towards women, who they may have both independently determined aren't paying for AI as much. I don't have any data to go one way or another but I can imagine lots of reasons to make the agent cute that aren't nefarious
    2. therealdrag0 · · focus · HN ↗
      What’s nefarious about attracting users?
    3. duplessitous · · focus · HN ↗
      Really, none? Was Microsoft nefarious when they deployed Clippy? I feel like there is an incredibly obvious reason that is not nefarious at all: the average consumer likes cute things
      1. jpnc · · focus · HN ↗
        > Was Microsoft nefarious when they deployed Clippy?

        Yes. It was predictive programming for getting (paper)clipped by AI.

      2. layer8 · · focus · HN ↗
        The average consumer doesn’t have a $100+ ChatGPT Pro subscription though.
        1. duplessitous · · focus · HN ↗
          Isn't that a vote for 'not nefarious' as they are not deploying it widely across their user base? Unclear on the point
          1. layer8 · · focus · HN ↗
            My point is that your argument regarding the average customer doesn’t seem to apply. But neither do I believe in a nefarious motive.
    4. tavavex · · focus · HN ↗
      People are already doing most of the work of anthropomorphising LLMs, so OpenAI is just capitalizing on that. Drawing a face on it will make people even more attached to the LLM, they will treat it even more like a person. If they ever get desperate for money they could change the cancel flow to have the cute character plead not to die, and play a cartoony animation of its death when the subscription is canceled. It would stop at least a few users.
      1. galaxyLogic · · focus · HN ↗
        Good point. I've though about my own mental attitude when interacting with AI agents. When they do something good I feel like saying "Thank You". Does that make sense? I guess it does because it communicates to the model their output was correct. But it feels silly to say "thank You" to a machine. I guess I just have to get over it?
    5. vovavili · · focus · HN ↗
      I actually greatly appreciate that I can put something cute on my sister's PC that comes from a developer that won't bundle it with malware. Seems like they fail miserably at being evil.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.