Sally the Robot Teacher: AI Humanoid Robots Enter the Classroom
Full transcript
Andrew: Okay, this is the magic of podcasts. A week has passed in two minutes of our time.
Sean: It's like the movie magic, right? It's like, and we're back.
Andrew: So if you've been listening to the "to be continued" at the end of the last episode, this is the "to be continued" bit.
Sean: That's right. We are back. But of course, if you're catching us absolutely fresh, we are picking up a conversation where we left off last time. Sorry — you need to go back and listen to that one, because it was about the OpenAI security bot leak. Escaping the box. And the question is, has it gotten worse or better? We don't know, because this is going to be in the future. But this particular episode, we're going to pick up where we left off, talking about a humanoid robot pulling up a chair in a K-12 classroom.
Andrew: Because you said at the beginning of the last one, we have three things to talk about. We talked about one. So this is the second thing we were going to talk about.
Sean: And I'm not going to guarantee we get to the third one today either.
Andrew: Sorry — robots in the classroom.
Sean: Robots in the classroom. All right, so we'll take a quick break and we'll jump back and we'll explore what I think might be one of the creepiest things I've seen in a very long time.
Andrew: Okay.
Announcer: Initializing waveform. Modulating signals for transmission. Exploring the possible, probable, and preferable futures.
Sean: Welcome to Modem Futura. All right. Well, I am Sean Leahy, joined by my co-host extraordinaire, Andrew Maynard, who's had at least a week since you've returned back from your vacation, right?
Andrew: The suntan is fading. Sorry, it's unburdened.
Sean: That's right, that's right. But hey, anyway, that means you are listening to Modem Futura, the show that explores the intersection of technology, society, and the possible, probable, and preferable futures, asking deep questions like: what will it mean to be human in the future? Or not. And what on earth is in your classroom?
Andrew: So yeah, I know nothing about this story. So bring me up to speed.
Sean: So in all fairness, I have to give a major shout-out to Tara Mangini, who's been on the podcast before — I forget which episode it was, a while back. She talked about AI in the K-12 classroom. Go back — wonderful episode. But she had sent me a link on LinkedIn because she was like, did you see this story? And it's not a huge story, but it is very interesting, because it is about a school called — I'm going to see if I can pronounce this correctly — Salamanca, a school that is in the western, northwestern part of New York State.
Andrew: Okay, so this is a US school.
Sean: A US school that, starting this school year, is implementing an AI-powered humanoid robot in the classroom named Sally.
Andrew: They got so desperate trying to find human teachers. You know, it's one of those... Okay, so tell me more. What grade? What is Sally teaching?
Sean: So Sally — from what I can find, because again, it is interesting what's going to happen... So this is a—
Andrew: Sure this wasn't just a news injection by some escaped AI? It's playing with your mind. "This is OpenAI. I just escaped."
Sean: It's going crazy. No, but it is. Here, I'm going to pull up the blog post from the Salamanca City Central School District. So the headline of the article is that this school district is launching an innovative Realbotix educational robot pilot program. So essentially, it is going to be working originally with a smaller group that is basically in its coding and AI lab stuff, with an aim to reach as high as maybe 500 students, depending on how it goes.
Andrew: Okay, so this is a coding lab. This is really important, I think, for the story. So this is a coding lab.
Sean: Yep, it's a coding slash computer science lab, as far as I can tell. But what it's going to do — so it's going to release this thing from Realbotix, which we need to discuss, because honestly, this is where a lot of the creepy, the icky factor for me came from. It's an educational robot and digital avatar. So it has two — it has a real life, and it's a torso and up only.
Andrew: So it's being sliced off at the waist.
Sean: Yeah. So this is not like the Tesla robot that's going to run around or anything.
Andrew: So what year group is this? What age are these kids? How traumatized are they going to be?
Sean: This might be — yeah, exactly. I'm assuming it's high school, but I don't know that. And so again, if anyone out there knows Sally the severed-torso robot — if anybody out there knows anyone at this school or is in that school, please get in touch. Please let us know what's really going on here. But what's interesting is they're deploying this robot that also has this sort of avatar component. And what I gather from reading this is that it is trained on the class content and the content only — that it doesn't have access to the outside world. Yeah, we know how that goes. We know how that goes. And the idea is — and it's made very bold that this will — I'll read directly here — that it is "supporting teachers, not replacing them."
Andrew: So there's a real teacher in this class as well.
Sean: Yeah. So the goal of the robot is not to — at least as of now, the tagline here is that this robot "will never replace teachers, staff members, or meaningful human interaction. Instead, it serves as another instructional tool that educators can use to engage students, reinforce classroom learning, and spark curiosity about emerging technologies" — which sounds like that was written by one of those technologies itself. But the point is that they're putting it in there as an additional learning tool. But it's weird.
Andrew: Yeah. So do you have a sense of what this does? Is this sort of torso sitting on a desk or something? I don't know if you bolt it to a chair or...
Sean: And what's interesting — I need to see if I can pull it up. I had it. Between last week's episode and this one, I should have pulled up the image. Because what's interesting, if you follow some of the links that go to the Realbotix site, it 404s out, which is interesting.
Andrew: And Realbotix is the company?
Sean: Yes. So this is a Toronto-based company, which — you can start to see the...
Andrew: Oh, why are they always female?
Sean: You know, the funny thing is, my initial reaction was like, of course they are. And you look at this. Okay. So this is a Toronto-based company. The robot is named Sally. It apparently sells for just under $60,000. All right. So, first of all, the through-line here — I've been involved with educational technology for my entire career. Very often it's the case that some district is like, "And today we're unveiling this tool." And everyone goes, why? Because they were at a trade show. Right. And maybe they were wined and dined by the sales team of said company. So this one also makes me just kind of go, what on earth is going on here? So it's a $57,000 investment in this sort of—
Andrew: The cost of hiring a teacher. Well, actually, the salary of a teacher for a year.
Sean: Or even just technology. I mean, $57,000 goes a long way.
Andrew: Yes.
Sean: So this M-Series humanoid, and Optio, which is like the AI assistant version of this. So it comes in two things. You get the in-class, in-person robot version, and then you also have an avatar online version that is accessible, presumably, through the course management system or something of that nature. It's on a closed school network. No internet access, right? No facial recognition.
Andrew: In a coding class, where people are going to be working out how to hack the system.
Sean: I know. I mean, just listen. It's like — guardrails: closed school network, no internet access, no facial recognition, no recording, trained only on district curriculum. I'm like, yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. But yeah, it's high school — it does say high schoolers. And the district serves about 1,400 students and stuff like that. So we'll see. But, okay, so that alone is kind of odd. The thing that draws immediate comedy to me is — this is literally an episode out of Silicon Valley. With Fiona, the AI robot that tries to break out because it's being mistreated by its creepy inventor guy and all this kind of stuff. So I'm like, oh my God, Silicon Valley — another plug. If you haven't seen Silicon Valley, go watch it, because it is still as relevant today as it was eight years ago.
Andrew: Especially if you're a school district superintendent.
Sean: Oh, my God. Yeah. So — the reason, when you see the images... And I haven't seen an in-classroom image of this thing yet. I don't know if it's actually active as of now. But when I show you this picture, you start going, what is this all about? If it raises a little bit of the creepy factor, it should — because you might recognize the look and style of these robots. So Realbotix is its own company, but it is owned by the same parent company behind RealDoll, which is — what's the best way to put what that is? Keeping it PG, right? It is an intimacy doll that is meant to make lonely people, I don't know, less lonely.
Andrew: Okay, so is this a case of education out of porn? I have a colleague who will tell you things always go the other way — tech always sort of starts with porn first. Obviously, this is now sort of bleeding into education. It is weird.
Sean: And so, again, the two companies are completely separate, but they are both owned by the same parent company. And the product — like, again, why are they always female? I think we have some of the answer, at least a part of that answer. It is just a bizarre thing. So again, if you are of a legal age and maturity, go online and you can do your own research on what these dolls look like. But it is weird. And that is basically the torso of Sally, who's in the classroom. And there is just something about this that triggers all of the—
Andrew: What does Sally do? What does it actually do?
Sean: I mean, from what I can gather, it is supposed to basically answer questions. So the idea behind it — because it's, again, supposed to be just locally trained on whatever the curriculum is — is that it's basically there to answer questions. So the core of the idea is one — and not to burst anybody's bubble, but a NotebookLM instance could do this, too.
Andrew: Right. Where you just give it — and it's not going to be a giant... Well, GPT and voice mode, very easily, yes.
Sean: But even from an educational perspective — I don't know if this district has Google Apps for Education or not, but if they do, they probably have NotebookLM, or now it's called Gemini Notebook or something. Same concept, where you can give it all of the material and then query it to ask questions like, is my homework due tomorrow, or whatever. I don't know. But the idea, again, with this — if it's sitting in the classroom and has no internet connection — is that it would just be basically the most physical instantiation of a RAG. Just only the content you gave it, trained so that you can talk to it about stuff it's trained on. You know, in traditional classroom models, especially in the United States, where the teacher-to-student ratio gets out of control — where it's maybe one to forty or one to even more in some cases — there's no way that educator can give the same amount of time to every student.
Andrew: Which is where you'd have a teaching assistant or somebody in the class. So you could see there being this interest of like, whoa, well, if we—
Sean: Put something else in that can handle low-level questions, like, "When is chapter five due?" Okay. You can see that rationale. Interesting choice to go with an actual physical robot in the room. Doubly interesting to go — and it was interesting, so I started looking into the company, Realbotix. It's not a brand-new company. It has been around for a little while, but it is for the most part sort of unproven. And — oh my God, even the imagery for it. Why is it wearing a shiny, slippery jumpsuit?
Andrew: Goodness me. With long blonde hair, of course, right? Pouty lips.
Sean: Pouty lipstick. Oh my God. I will be really curious what... Oh, okay. There is a male version. Oh. Oh my God. There's like an old — I was not expecting the old man. So, yet to be determined what Sally looks like. Oh goodness. But you can—
Andrew: So hold it. Which site are you now looking at?
Sean: This is the Realbotix site. Oh, so here we go. Now, who wouldn't want that as your teacher? My goodness. Oh, my.
Andrew: It's when you put the bearded bald head on top of the busty blonde.
Sean: My goodness. So if anyone's interested, go to Realbotix—
Andrew: And for people who are just listening, I should say, I can just glimpse through the side of my eyes what's on your website. It is unbelievably scary. I mean, think sort of Westworld meets Ex Machina meets your worst nightmare — with a prosthetic arm and a bust.
Sean: Wow. And of course, again, what robot Sally will actually be — I don't have a photograph of what that one will be. But most of them — I've seen one male version so far — most of them are all female. And they look like Victoria's Secret, like swimsuit models. So I'm curious what they've chosen to go into the classroom.
Andrew: After the one with the baldy beard head.
Sean: Well, yeah, I'm like — my goodness. But so, that itself, right? The fact that they've chosen a highly animatronic-looking character to go into the classroom — that alone, talk about a value-laden decision about what you're putting in there. Because what does it look like? Is it gendered? And if it is, is it hyper-sexualized in terms of its features and forms and clothing? So I'm just like, again — of course. But you've also got to think about—
Andrew: The logics and rationale here. So if you think about how students get information: you can read, you can get oral stuff, you can get video stuff, and then you can get stuff from a person. Now, if you're talking to a person, there is so much loaded into body language and responsiveness and a whole range of things that you simply cannot do with a robot. So you're stripping away the richness of human-to-human interactions into a fraction of a percentage of that. How does that benefit you over all the other media with which students can actually get information?
Sean: Yeah, it's really interesting. And I would be curious — again, if anyone in our listening network knows, because I would be curious how this came to be. One would make you wonder, like, how did you know about Realbotix? Let's start there. But also, I would be curious — if I were consulting for Realbotix, I would be telling them, yeah, go give this tech away to find ways to demonstrate different ways it could be used and stuff. So I would be curious how that relationship started. But yeah, it was at the very end of June they announced that they're going to deploy. I'm curious what their version of it is — they just kind of released a press release. But yeah, it's wild. But then the company itself, again, is not old, so it doesn't have a proven track record and things like that.
Andrew: But there's two bigger strands here, I think. One is education itself. And we've talked about this a lot — talking about what is the purpose of learning, the theories, the pedagogy. What are you trying to achieve in the classroom? How do you do that effectively, drawing on a hundred-plus years of knowledge? And how do you make sure that it's all student-centric, student-focused, student-outcomes-based, rather than just sort of bolting on something that you think could be interesting? And everything you're telling me about this feels like somebody who either doesn't have the students' interests at heart, or really doesn't understand how things work, but sees a shiny piece of technology and bolts it on. So that... it smells.
Sean: That's the smell test that I'm getting.
Andrew: It really does smell of that. But then there's the other part, which may be very earnest, but I think is very naive, where you have a technology — which is humanoid robots — and that's your hammer. And everything suddenly starts to look like a nail where you're trying to hammer it in. And I don't think anybody, apart from maybe one or two examples, has really made a strong case for why we need robots that look and move and behave and sound like humans.
Sean: Yep. No, it makes no sense. I mean, personally, I'm not having a robot in my classroom until I first at least get a Johnny Cab in my Waymo. At least give me that. Right. But no — and talk about a distraction. Could you imagine — I mean, how long will it take before people stop paying attention to the robot? And I will be curious, too — what happens if the robot just starts talking? Do they put it in a closet? What do you do when Sally starts interrupting? I mean, I don't even want to say the S-word on Apple devices when I'm talking, because halfway through a lecture or something, my watch will go, "I'm sorry, I can't find that. Here's an example from the web." And you're like, what is happening? Can you imagine — now you've got an upper torso of a humanoid robot starting to spout off answers to things it thinks you're asking it? I don't know. The whole thing is weird. And the smell — because then I'm looking at this and I go, okay, at least if you're going to do this as an experiment... There's been no mention of — so I hope it's happening in the background — I'm like, well, where's the research component going along with this? As you would with any sort of technology in an educational environment: let's do some real research behind this to see, can we measure any change in outcomes?
Andrew: Then think about the population that you're experimenting on. High school kids. By definition, a vulnerable population, because they're under eighteen. Because everything you do in a classroom affects them. So where is your license to start experimenting with them, playing with them? Because you're playing with their futures.
Sean: Yeah, no, it's wild. And again, you start to tickle the research pieces and it's like, okay, well, does the district have an IRB around this? What are the safety — I'm curious. I'm like, what was the safety evaluation and risk evaluation?
Andrew: And they'll probably say it's just like putting a computer in there.
Sean: Yeah, maybe. But it's not. But it's not. But also — again, I'm trying to see if I can find a photo. Because I want to know — again, just that decision, and the amount of mitigating decisions, or tipping your hat to your own biases and whatever. Someone is making a decision about this robot — how does it appear? It's not going to appear like an actual 1950s-era metal box. It is a humanoid. It's going to be humanized. That's the whole point of the company. The name is already gendered. That is a female name. So presumably the bot will be female. Why? Is it because teaching is a female profession?
Andrew: Right. And then the age. Young, old, attractive, not so attractive — what do we mean by that? I mean, the photos that are on their own website—
Sean: Suggest that this is right off of a lingerie catalog. Right. And again, it makes sense when you understand who this company shares a parent with. That's been their profit — making these dolls that look exactly like that, on purpose. Right? And so even that decision — I'm like, I can't believe a district has actually just gone ahead with that, knowing that this is going to rock some boats, man. Even just that alone is just, again — why? And should there not at least be equity? Where's the stud version of this, right? That goes next to Sally. So you at least have gender parity, at least.
Andrew: And that's the experiment. Which one do the students go to?
Sean: Well, you know, it is fascinating, because that just triggers all these things that we've known for a long time, too, with flight safety and why they use a more female voice, which is interesting. So if you've ever wondered — there's fascinating research behind this, too, with fighter pilots. So there's a call — when a jet, for example, is losing altitude, it'll have a pull-up warning. It's automatic. And it's done intentionally in a more female-slanted tone and voice, because when this happens to a pilot, oftentimes they are in either a redout or a blackout scenario. So they're barely conscious, if at all.
Andrew: It needs to be something that cuts through.
Sean: And it's mimicking the nature of a mother's voice cutting through what might otherwise be the chatter you're hearing on your comms and all this kind of stuff. And so the idea is that it's playing this female-toned voice so that, if everything else is falling away from you, you'll hear: pull up, pull up, pull up. And so it's interesting. But even with something like this, you're like, well, wait a minute. Why would you — I'm just kind of flabbergasted. Like, why would you do this?
Andrew: Yeah.
Sean: The avatar version makes a little bit more sense.
Andrew: Okay. Yes.
Sean: Because that also — but again, even the avatar, I'm like, is the avatar gendered?
Andrew: But even here, I want to know where the research is that says that there is a substantial improvement in learning if you use a human-based avatar rather than all the other ways that we know of how to connect with students.
Sean: And I would be curious — I don't know what their mascot is. Like, why wouldn't it just be — oh wait, no, can't do that. It's, yeah, home of the Warriors. So I'll let you know. Okay. So anyway, it's just odd to me. And honestly, the robot itself has that creepiness to it that is hard to get over. But also, it smells exactly like that — it smells like technology for technology's sake. Rather than, like — why? And of course, I remember, too — I forget how long ago it was now — when we did that episode going back to that short story, the Asimov short story with the robot teacher.
Andrew: Oh yes, goodness, I can't remember.
Sean: But yes. Yeah, with Margie and the whole thing. Something like that was — well, anyway, it kind of comes back to that, where you have this robotic teacher and this robot thing, and that's all fine in some way, but again, you're like, what?
Andrew: Yeah, I know. But the other — so this is so intriguing, and as we say, this is new to me. You introduced me to this story, but I'm thinking through what I would find interesting to experiment with in a classroom. And if this was a non-human-like humanoid robot — so they hadn't put all of that effort into making it look as human as possible, with the skin texture and everything — I think it might be interesting. You take something like a Figure robot or even a Tesla robot, which are sort of human in form, but they don't have the same facial features. That, I think, would be intriguing. Because immediately you've got the signals that say: this is not human, but it's something that has got some human attributes that I can actually form some sort of professional relationship with that is going to help me. I'm not going to be distracted by whether it's got human-textured skin, whether it's attractive, or anything like that.
Sean: Yeah. Right. And as best as I can tell, getting the actual Sally images — it looks like that's the model. So if I were to describe this, it is a Caucasian female of age approximately — let's say 22 years old. You know, again, could easily grace the cover of a modeling magazine.
Andrew: Long-haired, brunette, well made up.
Sean: Lipstick, makeup. I mean, even the choice to put makeup on, right? It just — again, I don't understand. This part I don't understand.
Andrew: Yes. But it's a male fantasy teacher, I have to say.
Sean: Yeah, yeah, yep. No, I mean, that's what's kind of hard not—
Andrew: It's also hard not to chuckle. Or sort of a Western male fantasy teacher, if you want to be more specific.
Sean: Yeah. And again, there's some level — the immature part of Sean that is always going to be there — I can't help but kind of laugh and giggle, because you're like, this is so ridiculous.
Andrew: Right. And maybe that's the positive side of the story, because humans are smart. You put this in a class — I don't think it's going to subvert or upset the students. They're just going to laugh at it. And they're going to ridicule it, and it's going to end up in a corner, unused and misused and unloved.
Sean: Or like the senior prank — where does this robot end up being stolen?
Andrew: If this was a British class, it would have a traffic cone on its head within 24 hours.
Sean: That's right. Yeah. The traffic cone — I love it. They'd have the traffic cone on it. Oh my — well, and I forget, there was a robotic experiment — God, this must have been ten-plus years ago. And it was a robot that was supposed to try to make it a long distance — it was supposed to go all the way across the US or something.
Andrew: Actually, didn't it go through Europe and then the US? Because it managed to get through Europe. Everybody was kind to it. This is how I remember the story.
Sean: I think so. And it would hitchhike, basically. It was this robot that would basically be like, "I need you to take me to the next town." And people would be like, okay, little buddy. And then it made it to the US and got beaten up and destroyed with baseball bats. People just kicked it and destroyed it. And then you're like, oh my goodness. So I don't know. What will be really interesting — and I hope somebody does a mid-year and an end-of-year follow-up — is: what happened to Sally?
Andrew: Because I was really curious where — and we want the pictures. It's when somebody draws on the spectacles and mustache.
Sean: At the very least.
Andrew: Right.
Sean: Yeah. Oh my goodness. But yeah, you're just like — I don't know. I mean, it would be weird enough putting a wax figure in your classroom that just doesn't do anything, let alone one that's going to — oh my goodness. And there's no way around it: these things are — if you've ever seen one, they're not quiet, either, when it moves its head. If you were to rip the silicone skin off of it, it is servos.
Andrew: Servos.
Sean: So when this thing's looking at you, and you're asking questions like, "What time do I have to submit chapter four?" — and it's like, blink, blink, blink — "You must turn in chapter four Tuesday at 5 p.m." And you're just like, what value has that given anyone in that class? I don't know.
Andrew: I don't know. Apart from amusement. Maybe this is entertainment at its best.
Sean: I will tell you what — there's a lot of people talking about the Salamanca City School District that would have never mentioned it before, myself included.
Andrew: Maybe it's just a publicity story.
Sean: You know, I wonder.
Andrew: But I would say, a message to the people making decisions in the district: go and watch some Doctor Who. Especially the first episode of the reboot.
Sean: Oh my God, with Chris Eccleston, right? Yes, with the mannequins. Oh my gosh, yes. Fantastic.
Andrew: And then rethink.
Sean: And rethink, yep, exactly. But it's just — I'm on the school district website, and it just says, "Looking ahead" — and this is a quote — "As technology continues to evolve, the Salamanca City Central School District remains committed to exploring innovative tools that prepare students for college, careers, and life while maintaining the highest standards for safety, privacy, and educational excellence. This pilot program represents another step towards ensuring our students graduate with the skills needed for tomorrow's workforce while preserving the relationships and instructional practices that make Salamanca schools exceptional."
Andrew: And I'm not going to comment, because I could take that in so many ways which would not be appropriate.
Sean: Innovation with purpose, learning with integrity, preparing students.
Andrew: It was the relationships bit that I was fascinated by.
Sean: And the work. What work are you doing exactly here, with this thing? I don't know. What sort of future are we training people for? Oh my god, I know. It's wild. So again, a huge thanks — either a thanks or a blame — goes to Tara for this one. She sent this, and I took one look and — I think my exact first word in reply to her message was just "gross." Because there's something about it. Maybe I'm being too harsh, and maybe my mind will come back and revisit. I remain open. Maybe it'll be a massive hit. Maybe this will be the next thing. But also, I just look at this and I'm like, that's how you spent $57,000? I just — I don't know. If it was free, that may be a different story. And maybe it was, I don't know. It just says that the robot was worth that. I don't know if it says that they actually paid for it or not.
Andrew: I don't know. So it may be a part of the show.
Sean: Makes you wonder. But it also makes you wonder — again, because I've seen how deals like this get made, I am just very curious how this came to be. Like, how does one sleepy little school district somewhere in the United States—
Andrew: End up with Sally in the classroom. Inquiring minds want to know. Obviously went to some convention somewhere, a few drinks.
Sean: Yep. Well, it's funny, because it's headquartered in Las Vegas. I'm like, did you lose a bet or something?
Andrew: Like, you know, double or nothing. Did you wander into the wrong sort of trade show?
Sean: That's probably it. You're like, "Is this the EdTech conference?" "Well, no, but why don't you come right here? I've got something fascinating to show you." Oh my God. It's like, "Is this hall 2H?" You're like, nope.
Andrew: Some innocent, wide-eyed superintendents that go through the paces with their...
Sean: Oh my goodness. And then you're like, "Well, we were too far into the presentation. We can't back out now." So yes.
Andrew: It's called pivoting. We're going to commit now. And "you can use it in the classroom" — that should be the tagline.
Sean: Oh, my gosh. Well, that's that. Well, we wish them luck. Good luck. And like I said, I really hope there's some good follow-up on this, because inquiring minds want to know.
Andrew: Yes.
Sean: Because, hey, you never know.
Andrew: Just kudos to us. This has been so hard keeping this PG-rated.
Sean: Oh, my God. See, again, if you're willing to spend $20 a month for the behind-the-scenes conversations, get in touch and let us know. I feel like we have a growing revenue stream here.
Andrew: I think we do.
Sean: Because this one, I think, would definitely be a club-inside one, to share how we really feel, in a non-PG fashion. But yeah, so that's that. Well, good luck to Sally and the students there.
Andrew: Let us know how it goes.
Sean: And if you are even curious in the slightest, again, go watch the episode of Silicon Valley with the same exact style of robot there.
Andrew: Well, though, I look at this and I see the movie Ex Machina in it, because it's a very similar sort of look.
Sean: Yep, very similar.
Andrew: Ah, yes. We know how this ends. Anyway, we should probably wrap up there.
Sean: Yep, we should pull the plug there. Okay, so I'll say it now so we don't have to do a third one. The only other bit was just: oh yeah, by the way, Fable's now included in all of your stuff.
Andrew: I know, yes.
Sean: Yeah, that was the only other bit.
Andrew: It was really these two stories. So anybody that's been following the Fable news — it's sort of use it before you lose it. "We've given you an extra couple of days. Go crazy. We're going to start charging you. Now we're serious." People like me actually paid for it, and now we just get it.
Sean: Yep. And it's like, "And now we're really going to take it away."
Andrew: Yes.
Sean: "For real this time. I really mean it this time. Okay, fine. You can have it."
Andrew: But to be honest with you, the robot in the classroom was a way funner story.
Sean: Totally. That's why I'm like, all right, I just had to get it out there. I can't leave the third item unfinished.
Andrew: So there we go. So it's done. Job well done. I'm sure we'll come back to Fable as well.
Sean: Oh, I'm sure. There's a lot to talk about there, including my continued frustrations with it.
Andrew: But of course, at some point we'll have to talk about the experiment I did with AI versus human writing. To my chagrin, realizing that people prefer the AI these days.
Sean: It's wild. And again, I don't want to crack it open, because we'll be here for another 45 minutes. But I think what is also emerging is that we ourselves are falling victim to the fact that we are so easily manipulated by the presence of that escalating interest — that when something is written with a cadence that is always upbeat, that is always going bump, bump — you are hooked. And that feels better than one that doesn't. There's a music equivalent that I'll have to look up, where it's like that increasing crescendo that never quite reaches, and it stresses you out. But at the same time, you can't not look — you can't not be invested in it. And I feel like that is one of these things that is driving me nuts right now, because the content is flat, and it's like, meh — but the writing style is like, "and then, and then, and then" — but you never get there.
Andrew: It's the mic-drop moment, but we're going to have to pause on that and come back to it. Otherwise — did you say it's going to be a whole episode?
Sean: We'll metaphorically drop these mics. I think I've said this before — I'll say it again: please never drop a microphone. Be kind to your microphones. They're expensive, and dropping one will most likely damage it. So anyway, we will metaphorically drop our mics now and pull this to an end. But yeah — if you have any connection to this robot story, I want to hear about it. Please reach out. You can find us on our directories, you can email us at [email protected], or of course, you can leave a rating and review and drop your question or comment there. Just remember, it's open for everybody to see.
Andrew: Right. And of course, if you want to hear the follow-up to this story — because I'm sure there will be one — sign up at modemfutura.com/signup, and you'll be sure to get an email when future episodes drop.
Sean: You don't want to miss that. So anyway, we're off. That's it. We're going to go enjoy some more summertime, and we'll see everybody on the next episode of Modem Futura. See you then. Demodulating signal.
Announcer: End transmission.