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Kiwi bots aren't (weren't?) actually AI controlled. They had human drivers in South America that controlled them remotely. If one attacked you, it was either th

Kiwi bots aren't (weren't?) actually AI controlled. They had human drivers in South America that controlled them remotely. If one attacked you, it was either the human driver going agro, or just a problem with the latency of the camera -> cell network -> streamed to South America -> driver inputs command -> sent back to the US -> over the cell network -> back to the bot. And the cameras they have were pretty bad (the ordering app would show you the camera view when the bot was nearing its destination.)

ladberg 5y ago
I believe (as of a few years ago) that Kiwi bots are semi-autonomous, meaning they do have someone watching the camera feed but the bots themselves can move in a given direction and will stop if an object is detected.
rolandog 5y ago
It's depressing to think that companies have normalized passing "mechanical turks" (exploiting workers from an impoverished country) as AI.
- rexpop 5y ago
  For more in that depressing vein, check out "Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass" by Mary L. Gray
  - iancmceachern 5y ago
    I will, I liked nickel and dimed so I'll give this a read. One side note, in looking up this book to purchase on Amazon, the hardcover is 2 bucks cheaper than the soft cover. I've seen this kind of thing quite a bit lately. What gives?
    - dreamcompiler 5y ago
      I've noticed this too. Hypothesis: Nobody wants books made of atoms any more, and the few that are selling are paperbacks. Therefore hardbacks are cheaper even though they're rarer and more expensive to produce. Just a W.A.G...
      - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
        Paperbacks have their price inflated to make the ebook look like a deal. Someone forgot to apply the markup to hardcover too.
    - rexpop 5y ago
      If you liked Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed,"[0] you might like a few of her unrelated books as well. I highly recommend her "Dancing in the Streets,"[1] a 5,000 year history of the deadening of European culture (at Europeans' own hands, no less) that pairs nicely with Graeber's "Debt: The First 5,000"[2], a book of similar pacing, as well as a much shorter book on the gendered professionalization/demolition of the medical practice in the medieval era titled "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses" or "W.M.N."[3] Her "Bait and Switch,"[4] however, about the white-collar unemployment industry I found dull and unenlightening. 0. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed 1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452.Dancing_in_the_Streets https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452.Dancing_in_the_Str... 2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt 3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453.Witches_Midwives_and_Nurses https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453.Witches_Midwives_a... 4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24450.Bait_and_Switch https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24450.Bait_and_Switch
- MathCodeLove 5y ago
  Those "exploited workers" probably made decent money relative to the cost of living in their location, and they got to do it from the comfort of a computer instead of hard labor in the sun, which is what someone in their same socioeconomic bracket would more likely be doing.
  - Hakashiro 5y ago
    "It is okay to pay sub-living national wages to foreigners in other countries because their cost of living is lower" And I suppose you should also add they must stay there and never come to your country because then your job is at risk?
    - MathCodeLove 5y ago
      >"It is okay to pay wages below what we could live on to foreigners in other countries because their cost of living is lower" FTFY. But, yes? How is that controversial? >And I suppose you should also add they must stay there and never come to your country because then your job is at risk? How do you draw that completely unrelated conclusion from the previous conversation?
      - Hakashiro 5y ago
        Cost of living is irrelevant when the cost of certain goods like iPhones, computers, Internet subscriptions and other things is fundamentally determined by strong markets like USA or EU. Or are you going to tell me that Indians don't deserve to use iPhones, watch Netflix, or learn new skills through online programmes? Because that would be pretty racist, and I don't suppose you consider yourself racist, do you? Further, the fact some countries earn astronomically high wages means they can, when they retire, take everything with them, into a cheap country like Egypt, India, or Greece, and live like emperors. Is that fair? Especially when hard-working people in India can barely afford vacation in their own country.
        cuteboy19 5y ago
        Cost of Netflix minimum (non mobile) plan US: $9.99=760₹ India: $2.6=199₹
Sxldierman 5y ago
Source?

ladberg 5y ago

I believe (as of a few years ago) that Kiwi bots are semi-autonomous, meaning they do have someone watching the camera feed but the bots themselves can move in a given direction and will stop if an object is detected.

rolandog 5y ago

It's depressing to think that companies have normalized passing "mechanical turks" (exploiting workers from an impoverished country) as AI.

rexpop 5y ago
For more in that depressing vein, check out "Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass" by Mary L. Gray
- iancmceachern 5y ago
  I will, I liked nickel and dimed so I'll give this a read. One side note, in looking up this book to purchase on Amazon, the hardcover is 2 bucks cheaper than the soft cover. I've seen this kind of thing quite a bit lately. What gives?
  - dreamcompiler 5y ago
    I've noticed this too. Hypothesis: Nobody wants books made of atoms any more, and the few that are selling are paperbacks. Therefore hardbacks are cheaper even though they're rarer and more expensive to produce. Just a W.A.G...
    - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
      Paperbacks have their price inflated to make the ebook look like a deal. Someone forgot to apply the markup to hardcover too.
  - rexpop 5y ago
    If you liked Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed,"[0] you might like a few of her unrelated books as well. I highly recommend her "Dancing in the Streets,"[1] a 5,000 year history of the deadening of European culture (at Europeans' own hands, no less) that pairs nicely with Graeber's "Debt: The First 5,000"[2], a book of similar pacing, as well as a much shorter book on the gendered professionalization/demolition of the medical practice in the medieval era titled "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses" or "W.M.N."[3] Her "Bait and Switch,"[4] however, about the white-collar unemployment industry I found dull and unenlightening. 0. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed 1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452.Dancing_in_the_Streets https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24452.Dancing_in_the_Str... 2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt 3. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453.Witches_Midwives_and_Nurses https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453.Witches_Midwives_a... 4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24450.Bait_and_Switch https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24450.Bait_and_Switch
MathCodeLove 5y ago
Those "exploited workers" probably made decent money relative to the cost of living in their location, and they got to do it from the comfort of a computer instead of hard labor in the sun, which is what someone in their same socioeconomic bracket would more likely be doing.
- Hakashiro 5y ago
  "It is okay to pay sub-living national wages to foreigners in other countries because their cost of living is lower" And I suppose you should also add they must stay there and never come to your country because then your job is at risk?
  - MathCodeLove 5y ago
    >"It is okay to pay wages below what we could live on to foreigners in other countries because their cost of living is lower" FTFY. But, yes? How is that controversial? >And I suppose you should also add they must stay there and never come to your country because then your job is at risk? How do you draw that completely unrelated conclusion from the previous conversation?
    - Hakashiro 5y ago
      Cost of living is irrelevant when the cost of certain goods like iPhones, computers, Internet subscriptions and other things is fundamentally determined by strong markets like USA or EU. Or are you going to tell me that Indians don't deserve to use iPhones, watch Netflix, or learn new skills through online programmes? Because that would be pretty racist, and I don't suppose you consider yourself racist, do you? Further, the fact some countries earn astronomically high wages means they can, when they retire, take everything with them, into a cheap country like Egypt, India, or Greece, and live like emperors. Is that fair? Especially when hard-working people in India can barely afford vacation in their own country.
      - cuteboy19 5y ago
        Cost of Netflix minimum (non mobile) plan US: $9.99=760₹ India: $2.6=199₹

Sxldierman 5y ago

Source?