posted in Technology

Sally the Robot Was Coming to a New York School. Then the Plug Was Pulled.

It was made by a sex bot company

While Realbotix focuses on robots for the classroom and home, the sibling company makes A.I.-powered sex dolls with names like Serenity and Harmony, marketed as the “world’s most advanced sex robot.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/nyregion/robot-school-new-york-salamanca.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0lA.y47P.Fbfzv2zFBr0y
Andrew Kiguel, right, the chief executive of Realbotix, talking to a humanoid robot made by the company at a trade show last year.www.nytimes.comSally the Robot Was Coming to a New York School. Then the Plug Was Pulled. (Gift Article)Students helped design the A.I.-powered creation as a young female with dark hair and an upbeat personality. Then came the outrage.

Replying to @⁨Fredselfish@lemmy.world⁩

I mean, my first complaint would be that this is essentially a surveillance platform, basically Flock in a human-shaped shell. Also it’s likely that it works essentially like Waymo, where there is remote human oversight to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of the automation. That means that beyond just video, audio, and whatever else being sent to some corporate servers, there’s potentially a human in another country watching through those eyes in real-time. Even if those remote employees are well-intentioned and trustworthy, how secure is the access to that? How much effort is there to prevent someone else from breaking into the stream?

My second complaint is just that this appears less advanced than Disney animatronics from the 80s. I haven’t seen any evidence that these things can walk, they all appear to be standing still. It’s basically a bigger Tickle-Me Elmo, with a webcam.