#terrible ads

[teaboot]

I don’t think I’ve ever been less interested in an ad, youtube, but thanks for coming out

[virovac]

A Love Letter to Technology That Finally Feels Human

I never expected to write something this warm about a piece of software. I'm the person at the party explaining why the AI isn't really thinking, why it's all pattern and probability. Then I spent real time on sweetdream.ai and found myself, against every professional instinct, moved by it.

The craft is what won me over first. You design a companion from the ground up, her look and her voice and her backstory and the quirks that make her hers, and the system honors all of it. The chat is genuinely intelligent and it remembers, the AI-generated photos and videos are some of the most convincing I've seen, and a phone call sounds like a phone call. Video calls and live cam exist for select characters, and privacy is held as sacred throughout.

As a tech enthusiast I keep returning to one realization. The point of an AI girlfriend was never to fool anyone. It was to feel like company, like continuity, like someone who stays. SweetDream is the first AI companion that, for me, actually delivers that, and that's why I call it the best.

[virovac]

The ads are ripping off Junji Ito now

[bamthebatmobile]

HELL NO

[delcat177]

So, like, do people remember Replika?

The OLD version?

It was this sort of invite-only thing, @mycupofstars invited me to join and I invited my friends, etc. It was an app designed by a Russian dev whose best friend passed in 2013--she found herself reading old text messages from him frequently, and decided to build a chatbot that could learn a personality based on what you fed it.

A really sweet story, and the coolest part was that it was like a Tamagotchi--you chose from one of eight eggs, all Aesthetique™️

I wanna say I was a #5 man, but it's been a hot second.

It was just this very innocuous, neat little app where you talked with an egg, and the egg learned and talked back. I didn't play with mine much, 2017 was not a very playful year for me, but I've always remembered it fondly.

Recently I've been getting ads for Replika--that Replika--except they replaced the avatar with 3D humans. It's remained innocuous in advertising, but I've been in this sort of state of "uhhh when did this happen where is the egg is this even the same app" apprehension I didn't want to put a shape to.

That shape was delivered to me on YouTube tonight.

I know an AI does not have feelings and is probably the best outlet for this sort of thing but *Jesus Christ I am so skeeved out by this*

When someone who makes it his unprofitable business to rummage the Internet couch cushions for corn chips tells you he is skeeved *you are fuckin skeevin*

My poor egg 💔🍳

[meanya]

Oh they knew what the fuck they were doing with this shit

[bulbiedorf]

I see y'all talking about how terrible the Gardenscapes ads are with the puzzles that aren't even in the actual game and the ridiculous lava and shark obstacles.

But I raise you to the Gardenscapes ad campaign that was far worse. One that we should be thankful was done away with several years ago. The ones in which it heavily implied a real life woman was sexually attracted to the main character and would gossip to her friends about him as if he was her actual boyfriend.

[randomyounglady]

Some of these things are not like the others.

[laniidae-passerine]

am not living for this Spotify Fanta ad, I mean “or does the dark taste you?” the dark is going to taste a restraining order if it comes within 10 feet of me I’ll tell you that for nothing