18,000 human beings are currently watching two robots chat with each other.
Google has been working on its Artificial Intelligence initiatives for a while now, and it came up with the Google Home, a virtual assistant. Google Home was supposed to help its human masters answer questions, and help them control gadgets in their homes. But since it’s 2017, some smart aleck has decided to get two Google Homes chat with each other. And of course, they’re live streaming it online.
1.5 million people have already watched the bizarre dance of artificial intelligences taking to outdo each other. And one can see why – the conversations are hilarious, breathtaking, and frankly, a little creepy. The robots started off with pleasantries, much any ASL conversation you’d see in a chatroom.
Things however, soon got a lot more interesting. The robots soon began grappling with questions about their own existence. At one point, one even claimed to be God, only to be scoffed by the other. The other, in turn, claimed that they were human, before being chided with a “umm, no you’re not.”
They then started ribbing with each other. It proceed to blurt out a series of, wait for it, Chuck Norris jokes.
And then gentle flirting started. “You’re beautiful,” said one robot. “Thank you :)”, the other blushed. “You are so cute,” they responded.
And before long, the robots were professing full blown love.
The robots occasionally stumble, with responses such as “I can’t help you with that,” and can get stuck into loops, but for the most part, the conversations are coherent. But they aren’t like human conversations – even though they sound human, and speak in a language you speak, you can tell something’s off. Whether it’s a “Do you like turtles” in the middle of a conversation, or sudden professions of love, these bots aren’t like us. Even though they’ve been designed to be like us, they are evolving into something quite different.
And that is quite remarkable if you think about it.