{"id":509,"date":"2024-03-13T03:34:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/"},"modified":"2024-03-13T03:34:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:34:28","slug":"pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

How some people were selling advanced robotics and AI systems forty years\u00a0ago.In 1979, as a young journalist, I was commissioned to take a trip around the world, visiting all the important Artificial Intelligence labs. I was with my TV science documentary colleague Volker Arzt, and we were doing a general research project for GEO magazine and German TV. On the first full day in New York, November 8th, we visited computer scientist Ken Thompson at Bell Labs in New Jersey. That was . Quite hilarious.Pure audacity: the fake robot scam was originally published in Becoming Human: Artificial Intelligence Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

How some people were selling advanced robotics and AI systems forty years\u00a0ago.<\/h4>\n

In 1979, as a young journalist, I was commissioned to take a trip around the world, visiting all the important Artificial Intelligence labs. I was with my TV science documentary colleague Volker Arzt, and we were doing a general research project for GEO magazine and German TV. On the first full day in New York, November 8th, we visited computer scientist Ken Thompson at Bell Labs in New Jersey. That was a wonderfully enlightening meeting<\/a>. On the second day we drove out to a robotic research company which had recently been in the news. That was an entirely different experience.<\/p>\n

This company, Quasar, had a robot that it said could \u201cvacuum, dust, cook meals, walk the dog, and do the laundry.\u201d It even conversed with people and had humour. The robot, called Klatu,<\/em> had been shown at the Hannover Messe,<\/em> one of the largest trade fairs in the world, and had been splashed all over the German\u00a0media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

When we arrived at the \u201crobotic institute\u201d in New Jersey we were somewhat surprised that it looked nothing like a big technology enterprise\u200a\u2014\u200ajust some offices with sales people. It was late evening, but the company agreed to bring out their top model for Georg, our photographer. The picture above is one I snapped myself, with my amateur camera. The robot had lights in its head, its arms moved up and\u00a0down.<\/p>\n

On the parking lot we had our first close encounter with Klatu. When I approached it turned towards me and said: \u201cHello, stranger, what\u2019s your name?\u201d I answered, and it said: \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200a\u201cWould you like to guess?\u201d I replied. \u201cI think maybe from Germany. You have a German accent.\u201d (I don\u2019t). \u201cWhere are you<\/em> from?\u201d I asked. \u201cI am from New Jersey,\u201d it replied cheerfully, \u201cI was built by the engineers of this very fine company.\u201d<\/p>\n

After some more similar exchanges we proceeded into the office. On the way Volker whispered very sternly: \u201cFrederic, you are not going to say anything.<\/em> Nothing critical. We are journalists and must find out as much as possible before we take a stand.\u201d He saw that I was fuming.<\/em> But I complied. How does the robot work, I asked the company CEO Tony. How does it recognize and understand language? He was glad to show\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Tony pulled out an electronic circuit connected to a number of switches, which one could press to make it speak a few words. \u201cThis is a module we have developed for speech synthesis,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt can also think.<\/em> Look, I\u2019ll talk to it.\u201d And he proceeded ask it some questions, which it answered in robotic speech. It even asked him to spell some words, which he did verbally. When he got it right it replied: \u201cCorrect!\u201d Impressive, right?<\/p>\n

Well, impressive for a gullible amateur, maybe. We had done a lot of research before our trip and knew what the state of the art in Artificial Intelligence was. In addition I knew the hugely popular Texas Instruments Speak & Spell<\/em> toy that had been recently released. You can read about it in PCWorld\u2019s Retro Tech section<\/a>, from where I took the above images. What the Quasar people had done was to remove the circuit board from its case, attach a wire from a second intact S&S device to the speaker, and operate it remotely from another room. The switches allowed the company chief to conduct a primitive dialogue with the \u201cAI\u201d, making use of the S&S stored repertoire of comments. One had to admire the enormous effort that had been put into developing this little AI scam\u200a\u2014\u200aprobably all of two hours and a hundred dollars in\u00a0cash.<\/p>\n

Volker keep kicking me, not to say anything, and he, seasoned journalist, kept up a naive banter. We went outside and watched Georg photograph the robot in the parking lot. If you look closely at the picture at the top of the page you will see that there is a man standing behind the pay phone booth. He had his hand in a sling bag and a lapel mike attached to his collar. Clearly he was operating a remote control for the robot, and using one side of a walkie-talkie to make the robot talk. Georg was cool about it, saying to things like: \u201cMake it raise its right arm higher.\u201d He was only interested in good pictures for the magazine.<\/p>\n

I was deeply insulted by the whole scheme, and after we left Volker and I spent some time discussing it. Clearly these people were making money\u200a\u2014\u200athey showed us photographs of their robot at fairs, malls, events, and even in Hollywood. They were genuinely and unequivocally claiming that this was state-of-the-art AI. But what they had was obviously fake. So how could they sell it to\u00a0anyone?<\/p>\n

I came up with the explanation. This is how I imagine a sales pitch would go: after a demo, like the one we had received, the sales person would say: \u201cSo did you like it? Can you imagine how much publicity it will get for your (mattress store \/ ice cream parlour \/ trade show stand)? You will be showing the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world. The press will love<\/em> it. The price? You want to buy just one, right? That would be $19,000.\u201d (I don\u2019t remember the exact price they were quoting in their flyers, but let\u2019s assume that was it). The customer takes a deep breath and says \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll order\u00a0one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now comes phase two. The sales person continues: \u201cWe will want it to speak, right? The voice synthesis module is another $8,900. And you will need voice recognition, which is a very complex module\u200a\u2014\u200a$17,500.\u201d (I\u2019m making up these numbers). \u201cThen there\u2019s the artificial intelligence itself. That\u2019s state of the art\u200a\u2014\u200a$28,000.\u201d In the end the total comes to $75,000. The customer is horrified: \u201cBut the flyer said\u2026\u201d The sales rep laughs: \u201cThat is just the basic robot. Listen, you can\u2019t get the world\u2019s most advanced machine intelligence technology for peanuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

On to phase three. The customer is sitting glumly, and the sales person says: \u201cLooks like it is too much for you? Doesn\u2019t fit your budget? What are we to do?\u201d After giving it some pretend thought, he comes up with a new suggestion: \u201cListen, I assume you don\u2019t want the robot for scientific purposes? You are not doing research, you want to use it purely for PR, to attract people to your store, right? Okay, here\u2019s what we can do: we can build you a simulation!<\/em> We make you a robot that looks exactly like the one you just saw, but it does not have the expensive intelligence and the speech modules. You operate it with remote controls and radio voice transmission. You train some kid in your company to run the robot and make it behave just like the real thing! Nobody can tell the difference, and you keep the secret to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

So they take the \u201cbase model\u201d, add \u201cadvanced remote controls\u201d for moving around and gesturing with the robotic arms, and \u201cadvanced radio communication broadcast\u201d to simulate the robot conversation. (Notice how often I have used the word \u201cadvanced\u201d in this article\u200a\u2014\u200ait was the buzzword they used on us.) \u201cComes to, hang on a minute\u2026 yes, $26,590. Now that\u2019s a real deal, right? Better than $75,000. You will not regret this, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, I did not witness such a sales pitch, or record one. So, in the words of Bill Maher: I don\u2019t know it for a fact\u2026 I just know it\u2019s\u00a0true.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

If you have the nerves and the patience you can google \u201cQuasar robot Klatu\u201d and read some articles, from completely innocent to very critical. Or simply look at some <\/em>contemporary pictures of the robot<\/em><\/a>. Quite hilarious.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Pure audacity: the fake robot scam<\/a> was originally published in Becoming Human: Artificial Intelligence Magazine<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,530,532,531,1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-biography","category-robots","category-scam","category-top-ai-news","tag-aimastermindscourse-aimastermind-aicourses-getcertifiedinai"],"yoast_head":"\nPure audacity: the fake robot scam - AI Mastermind Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam - AI Mastermind Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How some people were selling advanced robotics and AI systems forty years\u00a0ago.In 1979, as a young journalist, I was commissioned to take a trip around the world, visiting all the important Artificial Intelligence labs. I was with my TV science documentary colleague Volker Arzt, and we were doing a general research project for GEO magazine and German TV. On the first full day in New York, November 8th, we visited computer scientist Ken Thompson at Bell Labs in New Jersey. That was a wonderfully enlightening meeting. On the second day we drove out to a robotic research company which had recently been in the news. That was an entirely different experience.This company, Quasar, had a robot that it said could \u201cvacuum, dust, cook meals, walk the dog, and do the laundry.\u201d It even conversed with people and had humour. The robot, called Klatu, had been shown at the Hannover Messe, one of the largest trade fairs in the world, and had been splashed all over the German\u00a0media.When we arrived at the \u201crobotic institute\u201d in New Jersey we were somewhat surprised that it looked nothing like a big technology enterprise\u200a\u2014\u200ajust some offices with sales people. It was late evening, but the company agreed to bring out their top model for Georg, our photographer. The picture above is one I snapped myself, with my amateur camera. The robot had lights in its head, its arms moved up and\u00a0down.On the parking lot we had our first close encounter with Klatu. When I approached it turned towards me and said: \u201cHello, stranger, what\u2019s your name?\u201d I answered, and it said: \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200a\u201cWould you like to guess?\u201d I replied. \u201cI think maybe from Germany. You have a German accent.\u201d (I don\u2019t). \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d I asked. \u201cI am from New Jersey,\u201d it replied cheerfully, \u201cI was built by the engineers of this very fine company.\u201dAfter some more similar exchanges we proceeded into the office. On the way Volker whispered very sternly: \u201cFrederic, you are not going to say anything. Nothing critical. We are journalists and must find out as much as possible before we take a stand.\u201d He saw that I was fuming. But I complied. How does the robot work, I asked the company CEO Tony. How does it recognize and understand language? He was glad to show\u00a0us.Tony pulled out an electronic circuit connected to a number of switches, which one could press to make it speak a few words. \u201cThis is a module we have developed for speech synthesis,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt can also think. Look, I\u2019ll talk to it.\u201d And he proceeded ask it some questions, which it answered in robotic speech. It even asked him to spell some words, which he did verbally. When he got it right it replied: \u201cCorrect!\u201d Impressive, right?Well, impressive for a gullible amateur, maybe. We had done a lot of research before our trip and knew what the state of the art in Artificial Intelligence was. In addition I knew the hugely popular Texas Instruments Speak & Spell toy that had been recently released. You can read about it in PCWorld\u2019s Retro Tech section, from where I took the above images. What the Quasar people had done was to remove the circuit board from its case, attach a wire from a second intact S&S device to the speaker, and operate it remotely from another room. The switches allowed the company chief to conduct a primitive dialogue with the \u201cAI\u201d, making use of the S&S stored repertoire of comments. One had to admire the enormous effort that had been put into developing this little AI scam\u200a\u2014\u200aprobably all of two hours and a hundred dollars in\u00a0cash.Volker keep kicking me, not to say anything, and he, seasoned journalist, kept up a naive banter. We went outside and watched Georg photograph the robot in the parking lot. If you look closely at the picture at the top of the page you will see that there is a man standing behind the pay phone booth. He had his hand in a sling bag and a lapel mike attached to his collar. Clearly he was operating a remote control for the robot, and using one side of a walkie-talkie to make the robot talk. Georg was cool about it, saying to things like: \u201cMake it raise its right arm higher.\u201d He was only interested in good pictures for the magazine.I was deeply insulted by the whole scheme, and after we left Volker and I spent some time discussing it. Clearly these people were making money\u200a\u2014\u200athey showed us photographs of their robot at fairs, malls, events, and even in Hollywood. They were genuinely and unequivocally claiming that this was state-of-the-art AI. But what they had was obviously fake. So how could they sell it to\u00a0anyone?I came up with the explanation. This is how I imagine a sales pitch would go: after a demo, like the one we had received, the sales person would say: \u201cSo did you like it? Can you imagine how much publicity it will get for your (mattress store \/ ice cream parlour \/ trade show stand)? You will be showing the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world. The press will love it. The price? You want to buy just one, right? That would be $19,000.\u201d (I don\u2019t remember the exact price they were quoting in their flyers, but let\u2019s assume that was it). The customer takes a deep breath and says \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll order\u00a0one.\u201dNow comes phase two. The sales person continues: \u201cWe will want it to speak, right? The voice synthesis module is another $8,900. And you will need voice recognition, which is a very complex module\u200a\u2014\u200a$17,500.\u201d (I\u2019m making up these numbers). \u201cThen there\u2019s the artificial intelligence itself. That\u2019s state of the art\u200a\u2014\u200a$28,000.\u201d In the end the total comes to $75,000. The customer is horrified: \u201cBut the flyer said\u2026\u201d The sales rep laughs: \u201cThat is just the basic robot. Listen, you can\u2019t get the world\u2019s most advanced machine intelligence technology for peanuts.\u201dOn to phase three. The customer is sitting glumly, and the sales person says: \u201cLooks like it is too much for you? Doesn\u2019t fit your budget? What are we to do?\u201d After giving it some pretend thought, he comes up with a new suggestion: \u201cListen, I assume you don\u2019t want the robot for scientific purposes? You are not doing research, you want to use it purely for PR, to attract people to your store, right? Okay, here\u2019s what we can do: we can build you a simulation! We make you a robot that looks exactly like the one you just saw, but it does not have the expensive intelligence and the speech modules. You operate it with remote controls and radio voice transmission. You train some kid in your company to run the robot and make it behave just like the real thing! Nobody can tell the difference, and you keep the secret to yourself.\u201dSo they take the \u201cbase model\u201d, add \u201cadvanced remote controls\u201d for moving around and gesturing with the robotic arms, and \u201cadvanced radio communication broadcast\u201d to simulate the robot conversation. (Notice how often I have used the word \u201cadvanced\u201d in this article\u200a\u2014\u200ait was the buzzword they used on us.) \u201cComes to, hang on a minute\u2026 yes, $26,590. Now that\u2019s a real deal, right? Better than $75,000. You will not regret this, I promise.\u201dOkay, I did not witness such a sales pitch, or record one. So, in the words of Bill Maher: I don\u2019t know it for a fact\u2026 I just know it\u2019s\u00a0true.If you have the nerves and the patience you can google \u201cQuasar robot Klatu\u201d and read some articles, from completely innocent to very critical. Or simply look at some contemporary pictures of the robot. Quite hilarious.Pure audacity: the fake robot scam was originally published in Becoming Human: Artificial Intelligence Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AI Mastermind Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ai-mastermind.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"343\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"abbey4323\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aimastermindco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aimastermindco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"abbey4323\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"abbey4323\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/#\/schema\/person\/9ad25e00282b80219b15f1f2d0892861\"},\"headline\":\"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\"},\"wordCount\":121,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"#aimastermindscourse #aimastermind #aicourses #getcertifiedinai\"],\"articleSection\":[\"artificial-intelligence\",\"biography\",\"robots\",\"scam\",\"Top AI News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/\",\"name\":\"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam - 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I was with my TV science documentary colleague Volker Arzt, and we were doing a general research project for GEO magazine and German TV. On the first full day in New York, November 8th, we visited computer scientist Ken Thompson at Bell Labs in New Jersey. That was a wonderfully enlightening meeting. On the second day we drove out to a robotic research company which had recently been in the news. That was an entirely different experience.This company, Quasar, had a robot that it said could \u201cvacuum, dust, cook meals, walk the dog, and do the laundry.\u201d It even conversed with people and had humour. The robot, called Klatu, had been shown at the Hannover Messe, one of the largest trade fairs in the world, and had been splashed all over the German\u00a0media.When we arrived at the \u201crobotic institute\u201d in New Jersey we were somewhat surprised that it looked nothing like a big technology enterprise\u200a\u2014\u200ajust some offices with sales people. It was late evening, but the company agreed to bring out their top model for Georg, our photographer. The picture above is one I snapped myself, with my amateur camera. The robot had lights in its head, its arms moved up and\u00a0down.On the parking lot we had our first close encounter with Klatu. When I approached it turned towards me and said: \u201cHello, stranger, what\u2019s your name?\u201d I answered, and it said: \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200a\u201cWould you like to guess?\u201d I replied. \u201cI think maybe from Germany. You have a German accent.\u201d (I don\u2019t). \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d I asked. \u201cI am from New Jersey,\u201d it replied cheerfully, \u201cI was built by the engineers of this very fine company.\u201dAfter some more similar exchanges we proceeded into the office. On the way Volker whispered very sternly: \u201cFrederic, you are not going to say anything. Nothing critical. We are journalists and must find out as much as possible before we take a stand.\u201d He saw that I was fuming. But I complied. How does the robot work, I asked the company CEO Tony. How does it recognize and understand language? He was glad to show\u00a0us.Tony pulled out an electronic circuit connected to a number of switches, which one could press to make it speak a few words. \u201cThis is a module we have developed for speech synthesis,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt can also think. Look, I\u2019ll talk to it.\u201d And he proceeded ask it some questions, which it answered in robotic speech. It even asked him to spell some words, which he did verbally. When he got it right it replied: \u201cCorrect!\u201d Impressive, right?Well, impressive for a gullible amateur, maybe. We had done a lot of research before our trip and knew what the state of the art in Artificial Intelligence was. In addition I knew the hugely popular Texas Instruments Speak & Spell toy that had been recently released. You can read about it in PCWorld\u2019s Retro Tech section, from where I took the above images. What the Quasar people had done was to remove the circuit board from its case, attach a wire from a second intact S&S device to the speaker, and operate it remotely from another room. The switches allowed the company chief to conduct a primitive dialogue with the \u201cAI\u201d, making use of the S&S stored repertoire of comments. One had to admire the enormous effort that had been put into developing this little AI scam\u200a\u2014\u200aprobably all of two hours and a hundred dollars in\u00a0cash.Volker keep kicking me, not to say anything, and he, seasoned journalist, kept up a naive banter. We went outside and watched Georg photograph the robot in the parking lot. If you look closely at the picture at the top of the page you will see that there is a man standing behind the pay phone booth. He had his hand in a sling bag and a lapel mike attached to his collar. Clearly he was operating a remote control for the robot, and using one side of a walkie-talkie to make the robot talk. Georg was cool about it, saying to things like: \u201cMake it raise its right arm higher.\u201d He was only interested in good pictures for the magazine.I was deeply insulted by the whole scheme, and after we left Volker and I spent some time discussing it. Clearly these people were making money\u200a\u2014\u200athey showed us photographs of their robot at fairs, malls, events, and even in Hollywood. They were genuinely and unequivocally claiming that this was state-of-the-art AI. But what they had was obviously fake. So how could they sell it to\u00a0anyone?I came up with the explanation. This is how I imagine a sales pitch would go: after a demo, like the one we had received, the sales person would say: \u201cSo did you like it? Can you imagine how much publicity it will get for your (mattress store \/ ice cream parlour \/ trade show stand)? You will be showing the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world. The press will love it. The price? You want to buy just one, right? That would be $19,000.\u201d (I don\u2019t remember the exact price they were quoting in their flyers, but let\u2019s assume that was it). The customer takes a deep breath and says \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll order\u00a0one.\u201dNow comes phase two. The sales person continues: \u201cWe will want it to speak, right? The voice synthesis module is another $8,900. And you will need voice recognition, which is a very complex module\u200a\u2014\u200a$17,500.\u201d (I\u2019m making up these numbers). \u201cThen there\u2019s the artificial intelligence itself. That\u2019s state of the art\u200a\u2014\u200a$28,000.\u201d In the end the total comes to $75,000. The customer is horrified: \u201cBut the flyer said\u2026\u201d The sales rep laughs: \u201cThat is just the basic robot. Listen, you can\u2019t get the world\u2019s most advanced machine intelligence technology for peanuts.\u201dOn to phase three. The customer is sitting glumly, and the sales person says: \u201cLooks like it is too much for you? Doesn\u2019t fit your budget? What are we to do?\u201d After giving it some pretend thought, he comes up with a new suggestion: \u201cListen, I assume you don\u2019t want the robot for scientific purposes? You are not doing research, you want to use it purely for PR, to attract people to your store, right? Okay, here\u2019s what we can do: we can build you a simulation! We make you a robot that looks exactly like the one you just saw, but it does not have the expensive intelligence and the speech modules. You operate it with remote controls and radio voice transmission. You train some kid in your company to run the robot and make it behave just like the real thing! Nobody can tell the difference, and you keep the secret to yourself.\u201dSo they take the \u201cbase model\u201d, add \u201cadvanced remote controls\u201d for moving around and gesturing with the robotic arms, and \u201cadvanced radio communication broadcast\u201d to simulate the robot conversation. (Notice how often I have used the word \u201cadvanced\u201d in this article\u200a\u2014\u200ait was the buzzword they used on us.) \u201cComes to, hang on a minute\u2026 yes, $26,590. Now that\u2019s a real deal, right? Better than $75,000. You will not regret this, I promise.\u201dOkay, I did not witness such a sales pitch, or record one. So, in the words of Bill Maher: I don\u2019t know it for a fact\u2026 I just know it\u2019s\u00a0true.If you have the nerves and the patience you can google \u201cQuasar robot Klatu\u201d and read some articles, from completely innocent to very critical. Or simply look at some contemporary pictures of the robot. Quite hilarious.Pure audacity: the fake robot scam was originally published in Becoming Human: Artificial Intelligence Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.","og_url":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/","og_site_name":"AI Mastermind Blog","article_published_time":"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":343,"url":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ai-mastermind.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"abbey4323","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@aimastermindco","twitter_site":"@aimastermindco","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"abbey4323","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/"},"author":{"name":"abbey4323","@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/#\/schema\/person\/9ad25e00282b80219b15f1f2d0892861"},"headline":"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam","datePublished":"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-13T07:34:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/"},"wordCount":121,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/#organization"},"keywords":["#aimastermindscourse #aimastermind #aicourses #getcertifiedinai"],"articleSection":["artificial-intelligence","biography","robots","scam","Top AI News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/","url":"https:\/\/aimastermindscourse.com\/getcertified\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/pure-audacity-the-fake-robot-scam\/","name":"Pure audacity: the fake robot scam - 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