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If you've watched any Olympics coverage this week, you've likely been confronted with an ad for Google's Gemini AI called "Dear Sydney." In it, a proud father seeks help writing a letter on behalf of his daughter, who is an aspiring runner and superfan of world-record-holding hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

"I'm pretty good with words, but this has to be just right," the father intones before asking Gemini to "Help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is..." Gemini dutifully responds with a draft letter in which the LLM tells the runner, on behalf of the daughter, that she wants to be "just like you."

I think the most offensive thing about the ad is what it implies about the kinds of human tasks Google sees AI replacing. Rather than using LLMs to automate tedious busywork or difficult research questions, "Dear Sydney" presents a world where Gemini can help us offload a heartwarming shared moment of connection with our children.

Inserting Gemini into a child's heartfelt request for parental help makes it seem like the parent in question is offloading their responsibilities to a computer in the coldest, most sterile way possible. More than that, it comes across as an attempt to avoid an opportunity to bond with a child over a shared interest in a creative way.

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[-] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 6 points 4 months ago

Imagine finding out that everything wise your parent had ever said to you was read verbatim from an AI tool.

[-] Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago

It'd explain a lot, actually. 🤔

[-] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah, since 2016 it's become apparent that my father never believed anything he said about morals when I was a kid. Just saying the words he thought he was supposed to say.

[-] Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago

From my end, it's more to do with the fact that my parents' advice has been consistently bad and so have their life decisions.

this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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