Her name is Denise and at first glance she's kinda hot. But she's actually less real than a Penthouse Pet.
Instead, Denise is a James Cameron wet dream, a virtual non-human AI radio DJ.
Built by a company called Guile 3D, she was designed to be a virtual assistant. In that guise, she can check email, do web searches, answer phone calls and various other tasks. But then she was bought by a radio person named Domique Garcia for $200 and programmed to be a radio DJ.
Boss: This is the DJ 3000. It plays CDs automatically, and it has three distinct varieties of inane chatter. [presses a button]
DJ 3000: [stilted] Hey, hey. How about that weather out there? Woah! _That_ was the caller from hell. Well, hot dog! We have a weiner.
Bill: Man, that thing's great!
Marty: _Don't_ praise the machine!
Boss: If you don't get that kid an elephant by tomorrow, the DJ 3000 gets your job. [Marty punches it]
DJ 3000: Those clowns in congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
Bill: [laughs] How does it keep up with the news like that?
I expect more stories such as these as AI becomes more sophisticated.
If the original article is correct, its not even substituting capital for labour, its substituting labour for "petty cash". If I've read this right total cost is a one time fee of $200.00. although you have to admit that lots of DJs really have inane shatter. the real development will be to creat a DJ that can "read" the news and give a particular "slant" so that you can have your "hot" virtual DJ for FoxNews as you can for MSNBC.
Maybe SunTV can use this too, after all they don't have an audience, so may as well not have any talent either!
Posted by: finance | August 18, 2011 at 10:36 AM
It gives a totally new meaning to hang the DJ doesn't it?
Posted by: Frances Woolley | August 18, 2011 at 10:59 AM
The first link didn't work for me. :(
Posted by: Blikktheterrible | August 18, 2011 at 08:57 PM
I really think that economists need to think more about artificial intelligence. I don't see any reason to think that we will never see things that can actually replace humans in planning, decision making, manipulating things, and all the functions that still require humans in our economy.
There is a line which will, I am convinced, be crossed sometime. Someday, someone will build a robotic system, give it its own plans, and tell it to build more robots like itself. It will be able to handle all aspects of this. Think about the implications.
Human labour will become worthless. This absolutely does not have to be a disaster, but it could become one if we insist on trying to run our economy the way it runs now.
Posted by: Paul Friesen | August 19, 2011 at 12:44 PM
Link fixed. Apparently Alan Cross updated the entry (and changed the title, thus changing the URL). The new entry contains a reference to the DJ 3000! (see above)
Posted by: Mike Moffatt | August 20, 2011 at 01:31 PM
Paul - see this post by Nick Rowe Of horses and men
Posted by: Frances Woolley | August 20, 2011 at 07:43 PM