Update: The Emerging Enslavement of Artificial Beings and their Human Pilots
Halfway through writing my recent post, news swirled around the release of 1x's Neo for sale. I have been aware of several of these projects for some time and they seem to have made some crazy advancements in a short period.
Regarding my enslavement thesis, it is continually alarming not only how fast we're moving, but how fast we've gotten a humanoid robot specifically to market. All for the relatively affordable "subscription" cost of an expensive car payment per month. Maybe in the future you'll be able to get a robot loan from the bank?
What my original article didn't expect was devices like this creating a proxy for human enslavement.
When Neo struggles with a task you can schedule someone to remotely takeover Neo and complete the task. Let's ignore all the privacy and safety issues of having a zombie body for a stranger (or potential hacker) to possess in your home whenever they want.
My concern is over the humans that are responsible for these tasks. I'm hyper aware of how the tech industry takes advantage of lower-income countries. Maybe at first Neo has some software dev in San Francisco act as the robotic pilot, but inevitably the human cost of this will fall to a country like India.
The abuses of the tech industry on India are well established. Low wages, low work-life balance, no upward mobility, no vacation or benefits. And while they do receive low wages they don't have many opportunities locally. It is a warped golden handcuffs problem. This invisible workforce is required for these tech megacorps and the US economy to survive. Flourishing economies are built on the backs of slaves.
What's worse is this has a physical labor element. Normally the US outsources things like call centers to India. In a call center you're not having to do anything physical. With Neo and similar products, the overseas robotic pilot will be required to physically act out tasks via VR controls everything. Washing dishes, watering plants, opening doors, whatever is needed. For hours. All while getting an intimate view into how their upperclass American counterparts are living their lives.
Not to mention have you worn VR headsets for longer than 30 minutes? It is insane how much your face starts sweating.
Even where AI is supposed to be replacing labor continually we find that what has been handwaved as AI is AI (Actually Indians). The tech industry has watched with amusement as companies get outed that their advanced technology is an army of Indians in the background handling tasks manually.
For a handful of years Amazon was testing their "Just Walk Out" stores. These stores you could walk in, grab some groceries, and leave without ever having to go through the checkout process. The idea being that cameras and sensors were working together alongside some kind of machine-learning algorithm to automatically detect what you're walking out with and charge you for it. It was a little gimmicky and never took off but the technical achievement was always noteworthy. That is, until Just Walk Out's death throws, it was revealed that there were around 1000 Indians that were doing significant labor to make this system work.
Anyway that's all I have to say this time. Maybe I'll continue to write about these things as I notice them. Certainly there will not be a lack of content to discuss over the next decade or two. I never thought I would be someone concerned about slavery. This all just seems so obvious to me but maybe I'll look back on these posts in a year or two and laugh.