Guardian - 22 January 2018, 16:18 (+ 2292 days 4 hours and 9 minutes) In Depth/Analysis
Customers have been unnerved by a robot assistant – so why does the government think we will trust helpline automatons when we’re sick?In news that will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone at all, robots are terrifying and definitely not to be trusted. Yes, all robots. Officially, there is no job in the world menial enough to stop robots from giving people the heebie-jeebies.Take Fabio the shopbot, for example. On paper, shopbot was your classic lovable helper robot. Visually, he was a cross between a Cyberman and the kid from AI; a beaming, plastic, legless dildo with an immovable grin and two infinitely empty holes for eyes. His job was simple – all he had to do was simply mill around the flagship branch of Scottish supermarket Margiotta, helping out customers whenever they looked lost. Continue reading...