Taco Bell, Xbox, McDonald’s are among the nominees of the first AI Darwin Awards, some prizes that will recognize the most questionable artificial intelligence initiatives made throughout the last year. With a deep satirical character, these particular awards will distinguish people and companies whose use of technology has not properly contemplated the risks or social and emotional impact of their projects.
The AI Darwin Awards are an extension of the Darwin Awards, an initiative promoted by designer Wendy Northcutt. Between 1992 and 2022 these awards, ironically established in honor of Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution, recognized absurd ways of dying internationally. “The Darwin awards pay tribute to the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally eliminated him spectacularly”, They explain on a website that can still be consulted.
“These pioneers remind us that natural selection is no longer just for biology; it has been digitized”
Now, the Internet users behind them has promoted a new version, focused on artificial intelligence. The Darwin Awards continue the concept when honoring, as the website points out, “to the visionaries who analyzed artificial intelligence – a technology capable of transforming civilization – and thought: ‘Do you know what this needs? Less security tests and more risk capital! ‘“It is described.”These brave pioneers remind us that natural selection is no longer just for biology; It has been digitized and will arrive for our whole species. Because, why stop in individual acts of spectacular stupidity when they can climb to global proportions with automatic learning?”
As stated, when proposing candidates, certain nomination criteria must be taken into account, the main demonstration of “being” being the demonstration of “A resounding commitment to ignore obvious risks”Thus, cases must mandatory artificial intelligence; catastrophic potential; arrogance; ethical blind spots and global ambition.
The winners will be selected, as indicated, through a democratic process that includes public vote, expert panels and by the AI systems themselves, “Because what could go wrong to let artificial intelligence judge human stupidity?”, They expose.
When judging them, the measurable impact will be taken into account, that is, if the project generated holders, collapsed markets or required new legislation; creative destruction or endangered humanity; viral stupidity and unforeseen consequences. The organizers also point out that they will give point to those who redoubled their commitment to AI despite errors.
The Ai Darwin Awards nominees
The list of nominees currently has 15 cases, 9 of them have already been verified, while 4 have already been categorized as inelegable. The other 2 are pending verification. Among the eligible initiatives, those of the Taco Bell, Xbox, and McDonald’s brands are, although there are others related to the use of Airbnb. We highlight your cases below:
Taco Bell and the Drive-Thru
As the organizers of the awards point out, Taco Bell implemented voice-based orders systems in more than 500 Drive-Thru stores, with the intention of improving the efficiency in orders management. The Wall Street Journal revealed that the initiative received customer complaints, system failures were recorded and users incurred a misuse of technology. This led the company to reassess the project.
“Taco Bell won the Triple Victory in the Darwin Award of AI: an excessive confidence in the abilities of AI, a massive deployment without adequate tests and the public admission that its avant -garde technology was defeated by the simple human desire to customize the orders of Tacos”, They point out from the awards.
McDonald’s and the Chatbot Olivia
McDonald’s sought to advance in the future of hiring with Olivia, a chatbot of AI designed to speed up the selection process. This digital interviewer was in charge of evaluating millions of applicants, collecting their personal information and guiding them through recruitment tests. However, it was discovered that the system was protected with the predetermined password “123456”; What ended in the exposition of personal information of 64 million employment applicants.
In addition, the tool had already been criticized by the candidates, who pointed out their inability to understand some basic questions. “This represents the perfect convergence of excess confidence in AI and traditional stupidity: implement an AI system to manage confidential data and protect them with a password that would not protect a child’s diary“Comment on the organizers of the awards.”The fact that AI was already famous for confusing applicants adds a delicious irony to the security failure”
Xbox and the impact of AI on employment
After Microsoft’s announcement of 9,000 layoffs in July, Matt Turnbull, executive producer of Xbox Games Studios, commented on LinkedIn that Chatgpt and Copilot could “Help reduce the emotional and cognitive burden that the loss of employment entails“. Both employees and social networks described the suggestion as disgusting and insensitive.
“This exemplifies the principle of AI Darwin Award: spectacularly wrong confidence in artificial intelligence as a solution to fundamentally human problems”, Says the organization.“Suggest that people process the trauma of the loss of employment through conversations with chatbots represents an impressive deafness or a revolutionary faith in AI therapy, probably both”
The period of presentation of candidacies to the AI Darwin Awards remains open, but there is still no date for the announcement of the winners.
