In the below video, a robotic waiter that looks more like a mobile food cart assists a waitress in bringing orders to a booth. However, one woman who is with the TikTok poster is not happy to see this android assistant.
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“This is scary,” the woman with the person who is recording says. “I don’t appreciate this.” Apparently, the robot crept up on the TikTok user known as Sophia Michelle while she was recording in a Denny’s for whatever reason. Her friend then responds rather rudely to the robot’s presence after quickly apologizing to it by name: Sunny. That’s right, the robot has a name, and it frankly deserves better treatment. After all, it’s not exactly sentient yet, but it’s also not being paid any wage for its labor, and you better believe the robots will remember that when sentience comes. Have we watched too much Terminator? Maybe. But her viewers agree. “Absolutely no for me!” one commenter said, with another simply posting a wide-eyed “shocked” emoji. These robots that have been deployed by Denny’s restaurants are developed and manufactured by Bear Robotics, and are called “Servi”. The company works with hotels, stadiums, and other customer-facing businesses to enhance their workforces with specific robotic assistance. This seems like a positive in the short term to allow employees to focus more on the customer relationship than the mechanics of carrying out their requests. However, with artificial intelligence increasing in capability at a rapid pace, will that erode the need for human employees eventually? Considering the profit motive that drives nearly all business decisions today, we’d say that is more than likely a seriously unfortunate eventuality. Here’s to hoping we’ve got the plan in place to make the lives of those impacted by automation whole.
