ChatGPT Has Been Integrated into a Boston Dynamics Robot Dog
Robot dogs are creepy enough, but now things have gone to the next level. A team of programmers has equipped a Boston Dynamics robot dog with both OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Text-to-Speech voice modulation software, enabling it to vocally interact with humans and answer their questions. Machine learning engineers Santiago Valdarrama and his colleague programmed Spot robot dog to verbally answer system questions with the help of OpenAI's popular tool, as they showcased in a video posted to Twitter.
Valdarrama highlighted that the robots run automated missions daily, requiring miles-long, and hard-to-understand configuration files that only engineers can decipher. This is where ChatGPT comes in, as it is capable of comprehending the configuration files and mission results. Users can then ask questions using that context and with a voice-enabled interface, now can view the data effectively. Spot even responds with amusing gestures, nodding its head to say no or bowing to say yes, making the whole experience seem like less of a technological nightmare.
However, while the interface appears innocuous to some, many who have seen the video remain perturbed. Washington Post columnist Philip Bump remarked on Twitter that it is the "robot dog that triggers lots of 'here come our future overlords' jokes when new videos drop," and it now has AI integration. Another user joked that "one day we will look back and point to this day as a pivotal point," as they shared a gif of a humanoid robot wielding a machine gun.
Nevertheless, integrating chatbots such as ChatGPT into robots has always been part of the plan. In February, Microsoft, which signed a multi-billion dollar deal with OpenAI, released a paper outlining design principles for ChatGPT integration into robotics, stating that "we believe that our work is just the start of a shift in how we develop robotics systems, and we hope to inspire other researchers to jump into this exciting field."
In other words, it was only a matter of time until somebody granted Spot its own voice. This development feels like it's bringing us one step closer to a robot uprising scenario, but humans can take comfort in the fact that the chatbot integration into robotics is being studied further by leading tech companies and researchers to advance humanity's capabilities.
