I-TESLA or I-FLOP?
By Andrés Huerta
During the IA Day celebration, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced the creation of a new humanoid robot prototype to be finished sometime in 2022, Musk that this android would be “friendly”, easy to outrun (8km/h speed) and will do “boring, repetitive or dangerous” tasks, Musk believes that in the future, essentially, hard labor will be a choice. The morphology of the android will be of a human, 1.76 mts high, a weight of about 60 kilos and will be able to transport up to 20 kilos of weight, the face will be a screen that will show the task that is being carried out and will also have a camera.
As I browsed the web about this, I found several opinions of the TeslaBot. For example, why did he joked about easy to outrun? Isn’t it supposed to be “friendly”? other authors mentioned the height, since Musk is 1.88 mts tall, for him a 1.76 mts android is rather small, for the rest of the world that is quite the height for a piece of machinery that will do “boring” tasks, these authors were worried about that, but I think, why are we worried about the height? Or be able to outrun it? It seems ridiculous to me to be worried about those physical details, also I’m not worried that they will “steal” jobs, having that sort of technology will generate new jobs…for example, a gardener that will be out there trimming the landscape at a scorching 40 degree Celsius heat could be trained to program, repair or deliver the TeslaBot with the proper training that could be a better income than exposing themselves to the weather. Or the delivery person will not have to work through hard working conditions according to many Amazon delivery workers, maybe they will just program the TB (TeslaBot) with proper training to do the job right and maybe keep an eye on it. That brings the true question that I was headed to, this new tech sounds right off a sci-fi movie but seems to me, we are headed towards a sci-fi world anyways, the question is regarding the crime situation, for example imagine one of the TB walking towards the store to get some groceries and just like that a truck will just whoosh in and takes it, next thing you know it’s being sold by parts at a shady workshop. Just like cars, bikes, etc.
My question is, what kind of safety measures will it have? Will it be able to protect itself? Sure, we can outrun it but if someone tries to steal it, will it defend itself doing harm? And to what extent of harm? I’m not saying it will be the T-1000 (Terminator) but will it have that sort of safety measures, and if so, what if let’s say a solar flare will affect its programming or maybe it can be hacked to let it open the door to strangers or do harm to others while the real criminal is at home just waiting for the goods of the heist be delivered? The implications of things like that is what really troubles me, maybe if we add Isaac Asimov’s three laws: First Law, A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second Law, A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Third Law A robot must protect its own existence if such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These laws sound good towards safeguarding the integrity of human beings, however, what about goods? Or other TB’s? Will insurance rates go up because of such incidents? “Damage caused by third party robots” will be the name of the new clause in insurance policies? It is not just about creating a new “worker” but all the implications it will create, ethical uses of it, crime rates, costs of it, safety concerns, new laws, new policies, it’s a whole new world. Don’t get me wrong I do love the idea of one of the TB’s running around doing housework for me, heck I’ll even put an apron to it just to make it look like The Jetson’s maid, Rosey, and not worry about doing the groceries since it will do them for me, trim the garden, water the plants, do that never-ending load of laundry. But at what cost, I wonder, or will I have to sleep with one eye open during the night thinking it might get hacked and do harm while I sleep? Robots might be a good thing for us as an evolving civilization, what worries me is the humans behind it.
Sources:
https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-unveils-tesla-bot-a-humanoid-robot-utilizing-vehicle-ai/