• RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs

    Constructive Crit

    RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs
    Can we fix it? Well, that often depends on whether you’ll let me deliver the bits myself.

    Image credit: VG247

    Review

    by Mark Warren
    Senior Staff Writer

    Published on May 19, 2025

    It’s getting close to 10PM on a Friday night.
    There’s a slightly muddy hill. Halfway up it, their tires spinning helplessly, are two trucks carrying goods they need to deliver to a shed about half the map away. I sigh, and give my bulldozer/cargo truck the beans. As one fourteen-wheeled mass, we begin to crawl up the gentle slope, which would be easy pickings if the AI-manned haulers glued to my front scoop had any off-roading capabilities whatsoever.
    They don’t. There’s no driving skill to make up for it, either. If they run into an obstacle during the course of the route I’ve plotted out for them which can’t be overcome by simply reversing and pulling forwards less than three times, they just give up. Small rocks terrify them, turns that happen to be in any way sharp are the banes of their existence, and sometimes they seem to roll over just for a laugh. They need me. When I’m not Bob the builder, I’m Bob the babysitter.

    To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

    What I’ve just described is one of the main things that sets RoadCraft - the latest entry in Saber Interactive’s Spintires series of off-roading sims - from its rugged, outdoorsy siblings. These games, MudRunner, SnowRunner, and last year’s Expeditions, were generally games about you - the player - getting from A to B through untamed environments and getting stuck when you messed it up.
    I’ve regularly, and slightly sarkily, compared these games to the driving equivalent of FromSoft’s boss battlers. Notoriously unforgiving adventures about eventual success earned through overwhelming skill or luck, and usually preempted by a crap-tonne of failure that gradually pushes those who haven’t already taken their lumps in the direction of doing the right thing.
    When you’re behind the wheel, RoadCraft’s by far the least hardcore title in its delivery of that gameplay loop that Saber has put out to this point. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a learning curve and plenty of ways to mess up that’ll require a reset. However, in its creation of a game that’s more focused on construction, maintenance, and logistics management than it is straight-up haulage or frontier-conquering exploration, the studio’s simplified things.
    As you carry out jobs, you no longer have to keep a watchful eye on your fuel gauge or do any repairs if you slam into a wall. RoadCraft’s fleet is permanently fully-fueled and indestructible unless you roll over, sink, or otherwise get wedged in a spot you can’t extricate yourself from. While this, and the resulting lack of an in-depth upgrade system for vehicles, might be a bit frustrating to hardcore haulers, you can see why Saber’s opted to do it.

    See? Told you there are still ways you can monumentally mess things up. | Image credit: VG247/Saber

    The rides you’re handed the keys to this time are generally a lot more specialised towards very specific roles for the jobs you’ll be doing as the game walks you through getting locations which have suffered different kinds of natural disaster - from floods, to earthquakes, to hurricanes - up and running again.
    You’re running a construction firm that you start off by naming and picking out a livery/logo combo for. When you first deploy into one of the maps, which thankfully are openly free-roamable outside jobs unlike those in Expeditions, you’ll do the usual thing and head out in a nippy scout 4x4 to recon the environment.
    Then, your re-construction efforts begin, and can be divided into about five or six different general activities you’ll do in various orders and with different quirks as you progress - scouting, logging, road and bridge building, plotting routes for AI supply runs, debris clearing, and resource delivery.
    In terms of the latter, there are four types of resources you’ll need to fix various things - logs, steel beams, metal pipes, and concrete slabs - all of which you’ll acquire by either recycling debris at the plants on each map that part of your job is to get up and running. Getting ahold of those, ferrying them where they need to go, and installing them is done in very SnowRunnery fashion, albeit with manual loading being your only option.
    As such, the vehicle I’ve spent by far the most time in during my time with the game so far is the Mule T1 crane cargo truck. As the name suggests, it’s a lorry with very decent off-roading capabilities that’s built to transport goods, and even boasts its own built-in crane.You know how much junk this Mule can haul? | Image credit: VG247-Saber

    If you’re playing solo, it’s by far the most important purchase you’ll make early on, because its good stats and that crane mean it’s ideal to handle the vast majority of haulage jobs the game gives you. There is a point where some loads start to get a bit too heavy for it to deal with easily, but I’ve made it up to level 12 so far and it’s still the heart of my fleet. That arguably exposes a bit of a flaw in RoadCraft’s launch vehicle offerings - there’s only one or very occasionally two better successors you can unlock for each of the different vehicle types as you progress.
    You do unlock some new types of vehicle around the midpoint, such as a heavy crane and beefier cargo truck that together can handle the heavier loads the Mule struggles with, but in plenty of cases there’s a beginner rusty variant of a specific vehicle, a refurbished version of the exact same model with slightly better stats, and then an advanced variant you’ll unlock once you’re starting to home in on the endgame.
    The most egregious example of this is with the field service vehicles. There are two. One you’re given for free at the start of the game and can’t even be repainted in your company livery as far as I can tell, and then its endgame replacement, which you won’t unlock until level 20, which based on my progress so far looks like it’ll be when you’ve basically finished all of the game’s current content.
    You’re still unlocking one or two new vehicles or variants of existing vehicles with each level you gain to help freshen things up a bit, but the relatively thin depth at each position and lack of part customisation means the sense of progression feels a lot more limited. No doubt there’ll be plenty of DLC to beef up the roster, but Focus seems to be leaning a bit too heavily on that.

    C. W. McCall intensifies. | Image credit: VG247/Saber

    Combined with the aforementioned stripping out of stuff like fuel management, and the XP/cash rewards for jobs being quite generous, to this point RoadCraft is the entry in the uber-hard Spintires series I’ve made my way through with the least struggle. The one exception to that, as I outlined in the intro, is that damn route plotting for AI trucks. If it’s the part of the game that’s supposed to dial the difficulty back up, it certainly does just that at regular points, often in infuriating fashion.
    If I’ve gotten stuck while driving, usually because I’ve done something stupid, that’s annoying, but at the end of the day it’s on me to do a better job. If an AI lorry I’ve already built a bunch of bridges and roads for requires me to follow it along its entire route and do some push-based babysitting whenever it encounters the tiniest obstacle because it’s using a truck that only works on perfectly straight asphalt highways, that’s less easy to take on the chin. Kudos to Saber for trying something different, but some of the ways I’ve had to resort to helping its lorry Lemmings feel like they pretty much defeat the point of not having me just make the deliveries myself.
    While folks who take a bit more time to clear the perfect path might well find RoadCraft lacking a bit of challenge, I’ve personally enjoyed the non-AI lorry bits of it generally being a lot more chill than the usual. The game’s at its best when you’re heading to a base or driving your field service vehicle somewhere and setting up to spend some time doing a specific job. Both act as spawn points for vehicles, though the latter requires fuel tokens that’re pretty easy to earn from side jobs. Once you’re there, you’ll be doing something like watching the four stages of RoadCraft’s namesake party trick, building roads by dumping sand with a dump truck, using a dozer to flatten it, wheeling out your paver to coat it an asphalt, and then hopping in a steamroller to make it nice and smooth.
    It’s as mega-satisfying as you always dream baking a cake will be, even if the first step can be pretty unforgiving because it’s near impossible to drop sand in a nice uniform fashion. Luckily, you’ve got the choice to do each step manually or let the computer do it automatically, with the latter tending to go ok given you’re only making short stretches of road. Well, unless your paver finds a small rock you haven’t cleared.

    It's a piece of cake to lay a pretty road. If the way is hazy, you gotta do the laying by the codex. | Image credit: VG247/Saber

    Logging by chopping down trees with a tree harvester, picking up the big twigs with a log hauler, and then cleaning up your mess with a stump mulcher is just as fun. There’s not as much process to laying electrical wires between different spots on the map to power up substations, but finding a way to guide the comically unwieldy cable layer through the backwoods has its good moments, even if it’s possible to get stuck in weird ways.
    Overall, RoadCraft offers a unique enough twist on the established Spintires formula, if a streamlined one, to be worth giving a go. Some series veterans will end up longing for the elements it’s stripped out, especially when the new stuff that’s been drafted in is being more frustrating than fun. But, that central loop of frustration giving way to jubilation as you overcome the environment is still there and regularly just as satisfying.
    Especially when the convoy you’ve spent all evening pushing up hills finally reaches its destination.

    RoadCraft releases on March 20 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. This review was conducted on PS5 using a code provided by the publisher.
    #roadcraft #review #streamlined #building #biz
    RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs
    Constructive Crit RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs Can we fix it? Well, that often depends on whether you’ll let me deliver the bits myself. Image credit: VG247 Review by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on May 19, 2025 It’s getting close to 10PM on a Friday night. There’s a slightly muddy hill. Halfway up it, their tires spinning helplessly, are two trucks carrying goods they need to deliver to a shed about half the map away. I sigh, and give my bulldozer/cargo truck the beans. As one fourteen-wheeled mass, we begin to crawl up the gentle slope, which would be easy pickings if the AI-manned haulers glued to my front scoop had any off-roading capabilities whatsoever. They don’t. There’s no driving skill to make up for it, either. If they run into an obstacle during the course of the route I’ve plotted out for them which can’t be overcome by simply reversing and pulling forwards less than three times, they just give up. Small rocks terrify them, turns that happen to be in any way sharp are the banes of their existence, and sometimes they seem to roll over just for a laugh. They need me. When I’m not Bob the builder, I’m Bob the babysitter. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. What I’ve just described is one of the main things that sets RoadCraft - the latest entry in Saber Interactive’s Spintires series of off-roading sims - from its rugged, outdoorsy siblings. These games, MudRunner, SnowRunner, and last year’s Expeditions, were generally games about you - the player - getting from A to B through untamed environments and getting stuck when you messed it up. I’ve regularly, and slightly sarkily, compared these games to the driving equivalent of FromSoft’s boss battlers. Notoriously unforgiving adventures about eventual success earned through overwhelming skill or luck, and usually preempted by a crap-tonne of failure that gradually pushes those who haven’t already taken their lumps in the direction of doing the right thing. When you’re behind the wheel, RoadCraft’s by far the least hardcore title in its delivery of that gameplay loop that Saber has put out to this point. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a learning curve and plenty of ways to mess up that’ll require a reset. However, in its creation of a game that’s more focused on construction, maintenance, and logistics management than it is straight-up haulage or frontier-conquering exploration, the studio’s simplified things. As you carry out jobs, you no longer have to keep a watchful eye on your fuel gauge or do any repairs if you slam into a wall. RoadCraft’s fleet is permanently fully-fueled and indestructible unless you roll over, sink, or otherwise get wedged in a spot you can’t extricate yourself from. While this, and the resulting lack of an in-depth upgrade system for vehicles, might be a bit frustrating to hardcore haulers, you can see why Saber’s opted to do it. See? Told you there are still ways you can monumentally mess things up. | Image credit: VG247/Saber The rides you’re handed the keys to this time are generally a lot more specialised towards very specific roles for the jobs you’ll be doing as the game walks you through getting locations which have suffered different kinds of natural disaster - from floods, to earthquakes, to hurricanes - up and running again. You’re running a construction firm that you start off by naming and picking out a livery/logo combo for. When you first deploy into one of the maps, which thankfully are openly free-roamable outside jobs unlike those in Expeditions, you’ll do the usual thing and head out in a nippy scout 4x4 to recon the environment. Then, your re-construction efforts begin, and can be divided into about five or six different general activities you’ll do in various orders and with different quirks as you progress - scouting, logging, road and bridge building, plotting routes for AI supply runs, debris clearing, and resource delivery. In terms of the latter, there are four types of resources you’ll need to fix various things - logs, steel beams, metal pipes, and concrete slabs - all of which you’ll acquire by either recycling debris at the plants on each map that part of your job is to get up and running. Getting ahold of those, ferrying them where they need to go, and installing them is done in very SnowRunnery fashion, albeit with manual loading being your only option. As such, the vehicle I’ve spent by far the most time in during my time with the game so far is the Mule T1 crane cargo truck. As the name suggests, it’s a lorry with very decent off-roading capabilities that’s built to transport goods, and even boasts its own built-in crane.You know how much junk this Mule can haul? | Image credit: VG247-Saber If you’re playing solo, it’s by far the most important purchase you’ll make early on, because its good stats and that crane mean it’s ideal to handle the vast majority of haulage jobs the game gives you. There is a point where some loads start to get a bit too heavy for it to deal with easily, but I’ve made it up to level 12 so far and it’s still the heart of my fleet. That arguably exposes a bit of a flaw in RoadCraft’s launch vehicle offerings - there’s only one or very occasionally two better successors you can unlock for each of the different vehicle types as you progress. You do unlock some new types of vehicle around the midpoint, such as a heavy crane and beefier cargo truck that together can handle the heavier loads the Mule struggles with, but in plenty of cases there’s a beginner rusty variant of a specific vehicle, a refurbished version of the exact same model with slightly better stats, and then an advanced variant you’ll unlock once you’re starting to home in on the endgame. The most egregious example of this is with the field service vehicles. There are two. One you’re given for free at the start of the game and can’t even be repainted in your company livery as far as I can tell, and then its endgame replacement, which you won’t unlock until level 20, which based on my progress so far looks like it’ll be when you’ve basically finished all of the game’s current content. You’re still unlocking one or two new vehicles or variants of existing vehicles with each level you gain to help freshen things up a bit, but the relatively thin depth at each position and lack of part customisation means the sense of progression feels a lot more limited. No doubt there’ll be plenty of DLC to beef up the roster, but Focus seems to be leaning a bit too heavily on that. C. W. McCall intensifies. | Image credit: VG247/Saber Combined with the aforementioned stripping out of stuff like fuel management, and the XP/cash rewards for jobs being quite generous, to this point RoadCraft is the entry in the uber-hard Spintires series I’ve made my way through with the least struggle. The one exception to that, as I outlined in the intro, is that damn route plotting for AI trucks. If it’s the part of the game that’s supposed to dial the difficulty back up, it certainly does just that at regular points, often in infuriating fashion. If I’ve gotten stuck while driving, usually because I’ve done something stupid, that’s annoying, but at the end of the day it’s on me to do a better job. If an AI lorry I’ve already built a bunch of bridges and roads for requires me to follow it along its entire route and do some push-based babysitting whenever it encounters the tiniest obstacle because it’s using a truck that only works on perfectly straight asphalt highways, that’s less easy to take on the chin. Kudos to Saber for trying something different, but some of the ways I’ve had to resort to helping its lorry Lemmings feel like they pretty much defeat the point of not having me just make the deliveries myself. While folks who take a bit more time to clear the perfect path might well find RoadCraft lacking a bit of challenge, I’ve personally enjoyed the non-AI lorry bits of it generally being a lot more chill than the usual. The game’s at its best when you’re heading to a base or driving your field service vehicle somewhere and setting up to spend some time doing a specific job. Both act as spawn points for vehicles, though the latter requires fuel tokens that’re pretty easy to earn from side jobs. Once you’re there, you’ll be doing something like watching the four stages of RoadCraft’s namesake party trick, building roads by dumping sand with a dump truck, using a dozer to flatten it, wheeling out your paver to coat it an asphalt, and then hopping in a steamroller to make it nice and smooth. It’s as mega-satisfying as you always dream baking a cake will be, even if the first step can be pretty unforgiving because it’s near impossible to drop sand in a nice uniform fashion. Luckily, you’ve got the choice to do each step manually or let the computer do it automatically, with the latter tending to go ok given you’re only making short stretches of road. Well, unless your paver finds a small rock you haven’t cleared. It's a piece of cake to lay a pretty road. If the way is hazy, you gotta do the laying by the codex. | Image credit: VG247/Saber Logging by chopping down trees with a tree harvester, picking up the big twigs with a log hauler, and then cleaning up your mess with a stump mulcher is just as fun. There’s not as much process to laying electrical wires between different spots on the map to power up substations, but finding a way to guide the comically unwieldy cable layer through the backwoods has its good moments, even if it’s possible to get stuck in weird ways. Overall, RoadCraft offers a unique enough twist on the established Spintires formula, if a streamlined one, to be worth giving a go. Some series veterans will end up longing for the elements it’s stripped out, especially when the new stuff that’s been drafted in is being more frustrating than fun. But, that central loop of frustration giving way to jubilation as you overcome the environment is still there and regularly just as satisfying. Especially when the convoy you’ve spent all evening pushing up hills finally reaches its destination. RoadCraft releases on March 20 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. This review was conducted on PS5 using a code provided by the publisher. #roadcraft #review #streamlined #building #biz
    WWW.VG247.COM
    RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs
    Constructive Crit RoadCraft review: Streamlined building biz beset by bumbling AI Bobs Can we fix it? Well, that often depends on whether you’ll let me deliver the bits myself. Image credit: VG247 Review by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on May 19, 2025 It’s getting close to 10PM on a Friday night. There’s a slightly muddy hill. Halfway up it, their tires spinning helplessly, are two trucks carrying goods they need to deliver to a shed about half the map away. I sigh, and give my bulldozer/cargo truck the beans. As one fourteen-wheeled mass, we begin to crawl up the gentle slope, which would be easy pickings if the AI-manned haulers glued to my front scoop had any off-roading capabilities whatsoever. They don’t. There’s no driving skill to make up for it, either. If they run into an obstacle during the course of the route I’ve plotted out for them which can’t be overcome by simply reversing and pulling forwards less than three times, they just give up. Small rocks terrify them, turns that happen to be in any way sharp are the banes of their existence, and sometimes they seem to roll over just for a laugh. They need me. When I’m not Bob the builder, I’m Bob the babysitter. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. What I’ve just described is one of the main things that sets RoadCraft - the latest entry in Saber Interactive’s Spintires series of off-roading sims - from its rugged, outdoorsy siblings. These games, MudRunner, SnowRunner, and last year’s Expeditions, were generally games about you - the player - getting from A to B through untamed environments and getting stuck when you messed it up. I’ve regularly, and slightly sarkily, compared these games to the driving equivalent of FromSoft’s boss battlers. Notoriously unforgiving adventures about eventual success earned through overwhelming skill or luck, and usually preempted by a crap-tonne of failure that gradually pushes those who haven’t already taken their lumps in the direction of doing the right thing. When you’re behind the wheel, RoadCraft’s by far the least hardcore title in its delivery of that gameplay loop that Saber has put out to this point. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a learning curve and plenty of ways to mess up that’ll require a reset. However, in its creation of a game that’s more focused on construction, maintenance, and logistics management than it is straight-up haulage or frontier-conquering exploration, the studio’s simplified things. As you carry out jobs, you no longer have to keep a watchful eye on your fuel gauge or do any repairs if you slam into a wall. RoadCraft’s fleet is permanently fully-fueled and indestructible unless you roll over, sink, or otherwise get wedged in a spot you can’t extricate yourself from. While this, and the resulting lack of an in-depth upgrade system for vehicles, might be a bit frustrating to hardcore haulers, you can see why Saber’s opted to do it. See? Told you there are still ways you can monumentally mess things up. | Image credit: VG247/Saber The rides you’re handed the keys to this time are generally a lot more specialised towards very specific roles for the jobs you’ll be doing as the game walks you through getting locations which have suffered different kinds of natural disaster - from floods, to earthquakes, to hurricanes - up and running again. You’re running a construction firm that you start off by naming and picking out a livery/logo combo for. When you first deploy into one of the maps, which thankfully are openly free-roamable outside jobs unlike those in Expeditions, you’ll do the usual thing and head out in a nippy scout 4x4 to recon the environment. Then, your re-construction efforts begin, and can be divided into about five or six different general activities you’ll do in various orders and with different quirks as you progress - scouting, logging, road and bridge building, plotting routes for AI supply runs, debris clearing, and resource delivery. In terms of the latter, there are four types of resources you’ll need to fix various things - logs, steel beams, metal pipes, and concrete slabs - all of which you’ll acquire by either recycling debris at the plants on each map that part of your job is to get up and running. Getting ahold of those, ferrying them where they need to go, and installing them is done in very SnowRunnery fashion, albeit with manual loading being your only option. As such, the vehicle I’ve spent by far the most time in during my time with the game so far is the Mule T1 crane cargo truck. As the name suggests, it’s a lorry with very decent off-roading capabilities that’s built to transport goods, and even boasts its own built-in crane. (Slaps roof) You know how much junk this Mule can haul? | Image credit: VG247-Saber If you’re playing solo, it’s by far the most important purchase you’ll make early on, because its good stats and that crane mean it’s ideal to handle the vast majority of haulage jobs the game gives you. There is a point where some loads start to get a bit too heavy for it to deal with easily, but I’ve made it up to level 12 so far and it’s still the heart of my fleet. That arguably exposes a bit of a flaw in RoadCraft’s launch vehicle offerings - there’s only one or very occasionally two better successors you can unlock for each of the different vehicle types as you progress. You do unlock some new types of vehicle around the midpoint, such as a heavy crane and beefier cargo truck that together can handle the heavier loads the Mule struggles with, but in plenty of cases there’s a beginner rusty variant of a specific vehicle, a refurbished version of the exact same model with slightly better stats, and then an advanced variant you’ll unlock once you’re starting to home in on the endgame. The most egregious example of this is with the field service vehicles. There are two. One you’re given for free at the start of the game and can’t even be repainted in your company livery as far as I can tell, and then its endgame replacement, which you won’t unlock until level 20, which based on my progress so far looks like it’ll be when you’ve basically finished all of the game’s current content. You’re still unlocking one or two new vehicles or variants of existing vehicles with each level you gain to help freshen things up a bit, but the relatively thin depth at each position and lack of part customisation means the sense of progression feels a lot more limited. No doubt there’ll be plenty of DLC to beef up the roster, but Focus seems to be leaning a bit too heavily on that. C. W. McCall intensifies. | Image credit: VG247/Saber Combined with the aforementioned stripping out of stuff like fuel management, and the XP/cash rewards for jobs being quite generous (the latter especially so because you aren’t constantly spending on upgrades), to this point RoadCraft is the entry in the uber-hard Spintires series I’ve made my way through with the least struggle. The one exception to that, as I outlined in the intro, is that damn route plotting for AI trucks. If it’s the part of the game that’s supposed to dial the difficulty back up, it certainly does just that at regular points, often in infuriating fashion. If I’ve gotten stuck while driving, usually because I’ve done something stupid, that’s annoying, but at the end of the day it’s on me to do a better job. If an AI lorry I’ve already built a bunch of bridges and roads for requires me to follow it along its entire route and do some push-based babysitting whenever it encounters the tiniest obstacle because it’s using a truck that only works on perfectly straight asphalt highways, that’s less easy to take on the chin. Kudos to Saber for trying something different, but some of the ways I’ve had to resort to helping its lorry Lemmings feel like they pretty much defeat the point of not having me just make the deliveries myself. While folks who take a bit more time to clear the perfect path might well find RoadCraft lacking a bit of challenge, I’ve personally enjoyed the non-AI lorry bits of it generally being a lot more chill than the usual. The game’s at its best when you’re heading to a base or driving your field service vehicle somewhere and setting up to spend some time doing a specific job. Both act as spawn points for vehicles, though the latter requires fuel tokens that’re pretty easy to earn from side jobs. Once you’re there, you’ll be doing something like watching the four stages of RoadCraft’s namesake party trick, building roads by dumping sand with a dump truck, using a dozer to flatten it, wheeling out your paver to coat it an asphalt, and then hopping in a steamroller to make it nice and smooth. It’s as mega-satisfying as you always dream baking a cake will be, even if the first step can be pretty unforgiving because it’s near impossible to drop sand in a nice uniform fashion. Luckily, you’ve got the choice to do each step manually or let the computer do it automatically, with the latter tending to go ok given you’re only making short stretches of road. Well, unless your paver finds a small rock you haven’t cleared. It's a piece of cake to lay a pretty road. If the way is hazy, you gotta do the laying by the codex. | Image credit: VG247/Saber Logging by chopping down trees with a tree harvester, picking up the big twigs with a log hauler, and then cleaning up your mess with a stump mulcher is just as fun. There’s not as much process to laying electrical wires between different spots on the map to power up substations, but finding a way to guide the comically unwieldy cable layer through the backwoods has its good moments, even if it’s possible to get stuck in weird ways. Overall, RoadCraft offers a unique enough twist on the established Spintires formula, if a streamlined one, to be worth giving a go. Some series veterans will end up longing for the elements it’s stripped out, especially when the new stuff that’s been drafted in is being more frustrating than fun. But, that central loop of frustration giving way to jubilation as you overcome the environment is still there and regularly just as satisfying. Especially when the convoy you’ve spent all evening pushing up hills finally reaches its destination. RoadCraft releases on March 20 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. This review was conducted on PS5 using a code provided by the publisher.
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  • ‘I’ll never get out of this hole’: Older Americans brace as DOE begins Social Security garnishments

    Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she has cut her costs as much as she can to live on a tight budget.But it’s about to get far tighter.As the Trump administration resumes collections on defaulted student loans, a surprising population has been caught in the crosshairs: Hundreds of thousands of older Americans whose decades-old debts now put them at risk of having their Social Security checks garnished.“I worked ridiculous hours. I worked weekends and nights. But I could never pay it off,” says Farro, a retired child welfare worker in Santa Ynez, California.Like millions of debtors with federal student loans, Farro had her payments and interest paused by the government five years ago when the pandemic thrust many into financial hardship. That grace period ended in 2023 and, earlier this month, the Department of Education said it would restart “involuntary collections” by garnishing paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security retirement and disability benefits. Farro previously had her Social Security garnished and expects it to restart.Farro’s loans date back 40 years. She was a single mother when she got a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology and when she discovered she couldn’t earn enough to pay off her loans, she went back to school and got a master’s degree. Her salary never caught up. Things only got worse.Around 2008, when she consolidated her loans, she was paying a month, but years of missed payments and piled-on interest meant she was barely putting a dent in a bill that had ballooned to When she sought help to resolve her debt, she says the loan company had just one suggestion.“They said, ‘Move to a cheaper state,'” says Farro, who rents a 400-square-foot casita from a friend. “I realized I was living in a different reality than they were.”Student loan debt among older people has grown at a staggering rate, in part due to rising tuitions that have forced more people to borrow greater sums. People 60 and older hold an estimated billion in student loans, according to the National Consumer Law Center, a six-fold increase from 20 years ago. That has led Social Security beneficiaries who have had their payments garnished to balloon by 3,000% over the same period, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from CFPB.Debbie McIntyre, a 62-year-old adult education teacher in Georgetown, Kentucky, is among them. She dreams of retiring and writing more historical fiction, and of boarding a plane for the first time since high school. But her husband has been out of work on disability for two decades and they’ve used credit cards to get by on his meager benefits and her paycheck. Their rent will be hiked when their lease renews. McIntyre doesn’t know what to do if her paycheck is garnished.She floats the idea of bankruptcy, but that won’t automatically clear her loans, which are held to a different standard than other debt. She figures if she picks up extra jobs babysitting or tutoring, she could put toward her loans here and there. But she sees no real solution.“I don’t know what more I can do,” says McIntyre, who is too afraid to check what her loan balance is. “I’ll never get out of this hole.”Braxton Brewington of the Debt Collective debtors union says it’s striking how many older people dial into the organization’s calls and attend its protests. Many of them, he says, should have had their debts cancelled but fell victim to a system “riddled with flaws and illegalities and flukes.” Many whose educations have left them in late-life debt have, in fact, paid back the principal on their loans, sometimes several times over, but still owe more due to interest and fees.For those who are subject to garnishment, Brewington says, the results can be devastating.“We hear from people who skip meals. We know people who dilute their medication or cut their pills in half. People take drastic measures like pulling all their savings out or dissolving their 401ks,” he says. “We know folks that have been driven into homelessness.”Collections on defaulted loans may have restarted no matter who was president, though the Biden administration had sought to limit the amount of income that could be garnished. Federal law protects just of Social Security benefits from garnishment, an amount that would put a debtor far below the poverty line.“We’re basically providing people with federal benefits with one hand and taking them away with another,” says Sarah Sattelmeyer of the New America think tank.Linda Hilton, a 76-year-old retired office worker from Apache Junction, Arizona, went through garnishment before COVID and says she will survive it again. But flights to see her children, occasional meals at a restaurant and other pleasures of retired life may disappear.“It’s going to mean restrictions,” says Hilton. “There won’t be any travel. There won’t be any frills.”Some debtors have already received notice about collections. Many more are living in fear. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the Department of Education’s dismantling and, for those seeking answers about their loans, mass layoffs have complicated getting calls answered.While Education Secretary Linda McMahon says restarting collections is a necessary step for debtors “both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” even some of Trump’s most fervent supporters are questioning a move that will make their lives harder.Randall Countryman, 55, of Bonita, California, says a Biden administration proposal to forgive some student debt didn’t strike him as fair, but he’s not sure Trump’s approach is either. He supported Trump but wishes the government made case-by-case decisions on debtors. Countryman thinks Americans don’t realize how many older people are affected by policies on student loans, often thought to be the turf of the young, and how difficult it can be for them to repay.“What’s a young person’s problem today,” he says, “is an old person’s problem tomorrow.”Countryman started working on a degree while in prison, then continued it at the University of Phoenix when he was released. He started growing nervous as he racked up loan debt and never finished his degree. He’s worked a host of different jobs, but finding work has often been complicated by his criminal record.He lives off his wife’s Social Security check and the kindness of his mother-in-law. He doesn’t know how they’d get by if the government demands repayment.“I kind of wish I never went to school in the first place,” he says.

    Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and

    —Matt Sedensky, AP National Writer
    #ill #never #get #out #this
    ‘I’ll never get out of this hole’: Older Americans brace as DOE begins Social Security garnishments
    Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she has cut her costs as much as she can to live on a tight budget.But it’s about to get far tighter.As the Trump administration resumes collections on defaulted student loans, a surprising population has been caught in the crosshairs: Hundreds of thousands of older Americans whose decades-old debts now put them at risk of having their Social Security checks garnished.“I worked ridiculous hours. I worked weekends and nights. But I could never pay it off,” says Farro, a retired child welfare worker in Santa Ynez, California.Like millions of debtors with federal student loans, Farro had her payments and interest paused by the government five years ago when the pandemic thrust many into financial hardship. That grace period ended in 2023 and, earlier this month, the Department of Education said it would restart “involuntary collections” by garnishing paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security retirement and disability benefits. Farro previously had her Social Security garnished and expects it to restart.Farro’s loans date back 40 years. She was a single mother when she got a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology and when she discovered she couldn’t earn enough to pay off her loans, she went back to school and got a master’s degree. Her salary never caught up. Things only got worse.Around 2008, when she consolidated her loans, she was paying a month, but years of missed payments and piled-on interest meant she was barely putting a dent in a bill that had ballooned to When she sought help to resolve her debt, she says the loan company had just one suggestion.“They said, ‘Move to a cheaper state,'” says Farro, who rents a 400-square-foot casita from a friend. “I realized I was living in a different reality than they were.”Student loan debt among older people has grown at a staggering rate, in part due to rising tuitions that have forced more people to borrow greater sums. People 60 and older hold an estimated billion in student loans, according to the National Consumer Law Center, a six-fold increase from 20 years ago. That has led Social Security beneficiaries who have had their payments garnished to balloon by 3,000% over the same period, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from CFPB.Debbie McIntyre, a 62-year-old adult education teacher in Georgetown, Kentucky, is among them. She dreams of retiring and writing more historical fiction, and of boarding a plane for the first time since high school. But her husband has been out of work on disability for two decades and they’ve used credit cards to get by on his meager benefits and her paycheck. Their rent will be hiked when their lease renews. McIntyre doesn’t know what to do if her paycheck is garnished.She floats the idea of bankruptcy, but that won’t automatically clear her loans, which are held to a different standard than other debt. She figures if she picks up extra jobs babysitting or tutoring, she could put toward her loans here and there. But she sees no real solution.“I don’t know what more I can do,” says McIntyre, who is too afraid to check what her loan balance is. “I’ll never get out of this hole.”Braxton Brewington of the Debt Collective debtors union says it’s striking how many older people dial into the organization’s calls and attend its protests. Many of them, he says, should have had their debts cancelled but fell victim to a system “riddled with flaws and illegalities and flukes.” Many whose educations have left them in late-life debt have, in fact, paid back the principal on their loans, sometimes several times over, but still owe more due to interest and fees.For those who are subject to garnishment, Brewington says, the results can be devastating.“We hear from people who skip meals. We know people who dilute their medication or cut their pills in half. People take drastic measures like pulling all their savings out or dissolving their 401ks,” he says. “We know folks that have been driven into homelessness.”Collections on defaulted loans may have restarted no matter who was president, though the Biden administration had sought to limit the amount of income that could be garnished. Federal law protects just of Social Security benefits from garnishment, an amount that would put a debtor far below the poverty line.“We’re basically providing people with federal benefits with one hand and taking them away with another,” says Sarah Sattelmeyer of the New America think tank.Linda Hilton, a 76-year-old retired office worker from Apache Junction, Arizona, went through garnishment before COVID and says she will survive it again. But flights to see her children, occasional meals at a restaurant and other pleasures of retired life may disappear.“It’s going to mean restrictions,” says Hilton. “There won’t be any travel. There won’t be any frills.”Some debtors have already received notice about collections. Many more are living in fear. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the Department of Education’s dismantling and, for those seeking answers about their loans, mass layoffs have complicated getting calls answered.While Education Secretary Linda McMahon says restarting collections is a necessary step for debtors “both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” even some of Trump’s most fervent supporters are questioning a move that will make their lives harder.Randall Countryman, 55, of Bonita, California, says a Biden administration proposal to forgive some student debt didn’t strike him as fair, but he’s not sure Trump’s approach is either. He supported Trump but wishes the government made case-by-case decisions on debtors. Countryman thinks Americans don’t realize how many older people are affected by policies on student loans, often thought to be the turf of the young, and how difficult it can be for them to repay.“What’s a young person’s problem today,” he says, “is an old person’s problem tomorrow.”Countryman started working on a degree while in prison, then continued it at the University of Phoenix when he was released. He started growing nervous as he racked up loan debt and never finished his degree. He’s worked a host of different jobs, but finding work has often been complicated by his criminal record.He lives off his wife’s Social Security check and the kindness of his mother-in-law. He doesn’t know how they’d get by if the government demands repayment.“I kind of wish I never went to school in the first place,” he says. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and —Matt Sedensky, AP National Writer #ill #never #get #out #this
    WWW.FASTCOMPANY.COM
    ‘I’ll never get out of this hole’: Older Americans brace as DOE begins Social Security garnishments
    Christine Farro has cut back on the presents she sends her grandchildren on their birthdays, and she’s put off taking two cats and a dog for their shots. All her clothes come from thrift stores and most of her vegetables come from her garden. At 73, she has cut her costs as much as she can to live on a tight budget.But it’s about to get far tighter.As the Trump administration resumes collections on defaulted student loans, a surprising population has been caught in the crosshairs: Hundreds of thousands of older Americans whose decades-old debts now put them at risk of having their Social Security checks garnished.“I worked ridiculous hours. I worked weekends and nights. But I could never pay it off,” says Farro, a retired child welfare worker in Santa Ynez, California.Like millions of debtors with federal student loans, Farro had her payments and interest paused by the government five years ago when the pandemic thrust many into financial hardship. That grace period ended in 2023 and, earlier this month, the Department of Education said it would restart “involuntary collections” by garnishing paychecks, tax refunds and Social Security retirement and disability benefits. Farro previously had her Social Security garnished and expects it to restart.Farro’s loans date back 40 years. She was a single mother when she got a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology and when she discovered she couldn’t earn enough to pay off her loans, she went back to school and got a master’s degree. Her salary never caught up. Things only got worse.Around 2008, when she consolidated her loans, she was paying $1,000 a month, but years of missed payments and piled-on interest meant she was barely putting a dent in a bill that had ballooned to $250,000. When she sought help to resolve her debt, she says the loan company had just one suggestion.“They said, ‘Move to a cheaper state,'” says Farro, who rents a 400-square-foot casita from a friend. “I realized I was living in a different reality than they were.”Student loan debt among older people has grown at a staggering rate, in part due to rising tuitions that have forced more people to borrow greater sums. People 60 and older hold an estimated $125 billion in student loans, according to the National Consumer Law Center, a six-fold increase from 20 years ago. That has led Social Security beneficiaries who have had their payments garnished to balloon by 3,000% over the same period, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from CFPB.Debbie McIntyre, a 62-year-old adult education teacher in Georgetown, Kentucky, is among them. She dreams of retiring and writing more historical fiction, and of boarding a plane for the first time since high school. But her husband has been out of work on disability for two decades and they’ve used credit cards to get by on his meager benefits and her paycheck. Their rent will be hiked $300 when their lease renews. McIntyre doesn’t know what to do if her paycheck is garnished.She floats the idea of bankruptcy, but that won’t automatically clear her loans, which are held to a different standard than other debt. She figures if she picks up extra jobs babysitting or tutoring, she could put $50 toward her loans here and there. But she sees no real solution.“I don’t know what more I can do,” says McIntyre, who is too afraid to check what her loan balance is. “I’ll never get out of this hole.”Braxton Brewington of the Debt Collective debtors union says it’s striking how many older people dial into the organization’s calls and attend its protests. Many of them, he says, should have had their debts cancelled but fell victim to a system “riddled with flaws and illegalities and flukes.” Many whose educations have left them in late-life debt have, in fact, paid back the principal on their loans, sometimes several times over, but still owe more due to interest and fees.For those who are subject to garnishment, Brewington says, the results can be devastating.“We hear from people who skip meals. We know people who dilute their medication or cut their pills in half. People take drastic measures like pulling all their savings out or dissolving their 401ks,” he says. “We know folks that have been driven into homelessness.”Collections on defaulted loans may have restarted no matter who was president, though the Biden administration had sought to limit the amount of income that could be garnished. Federal law protects just $750 of Social Security benefits from garnishment, an amount that would put a debtor far below the poverty line.“We’re basically providing people with federal benefits with one hand and taking them away with another,” says Sarah Sattelmeyer of the New America think tank.Linda Hilton, a 76-year-old retired office worker from Apache Junction, Arizona, went through garnishment before COVID and says she will survive it again. But flights to see her children, occasional meals at a restaurant and other pleasures of retired life may disappear.“It’s going to mean restrictions,” says Hilton. “There won’t be any travel. There won’t be any frills.”Some debtors have already received notice about collections. Many more are living in fear. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the Department of Education’s dismantling and, for those seeking answers about their loans, mass layoffs have complicated getting calls answered.While Education Secretary Linda McMahon says restarting collections is a necessary step for debtors “both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” even some of Trump’s most fervent supporters are questioning a move that will make their lives harder.Randall Countryman, 55, of Bonita, California, says a Biden administration proposal to forgive some student debt didn’t strike him as fair, but he’s not sure Trump’s approach is either. He supported Trump but wishes the government made case-by-case decisions on debtors. Countryman thinks Americans don’t realize how many older people are affected by policies on student loans, often thought to be the turf of the young, and how difficult it can be for them to repay.“What’s a young person’s problem today,” he says, “is an old person’s problem tomorrow.”Countryman started working on a degree while in prison, then continued it at the University of Phoenix when he was released. He started growing nervous as he racked up loan debt and never finished his degree. He’s worked a host of different jobs, but finding work has often been complicated by his criminal record.He lives off his wife’s Social Security check and the kindness of his mother-in-law. He doesn’t know how they’d get by if the government demands repayment.“I kind of wish I never went to school in the first place,” he says. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky —Matt Sedensky, AP National Writer
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  • I Saw Ecovacs' New Self-Washing Robot Vacuums That Make Mopping Cleaner
    Robot mops aren't really a new concept; they've existed for a few years now with mopping pad attachments and dispensers for cleaning solution and water.
    However, many are just glorified Swiffers.
    They smear dirty water around your floors and call it "cleaning." But Ecovacs' Deebot X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni try to fix that problem with a self-washing mop that, in theory, won't turn your floor into a petri dish. "With Ozmo Roller Mop technology, we're addressing the hygiene gaps traditional mops leave behind, while innovations like Blast suction and ZeroTangle 3.0 take performance and convenience to the next level," David Qian, CEO of Ecovacs Robotics, said in a news release.I got an early look at these robot mops in a Brooklyn coffee shop ahead of their launch.
    While they're not cheap, starting at $1,200 for the T80 Omni and $1,600 for the X9 Pro Omni, they have a lot of mopping tech that should help make mopping your living space quicker and more hygienic.  The X9 Pro Omni tackled a milk spill with ease.
    Ajay KumarSelf-washing robotsThe headline feature here is Ecovacs Ozmmo Roller Mop, which first debuted in this year's X8 Pro Omni model.
    Unlike older robot mops that drag a damp cloth around until it's disgusting, this one has separate clean and dirty water tanks and scrubs the mop pad clean mid-job.
    It also applies 16 times more pressure than a typical robot mop, so it's closer to an actual hand-scrubbing than a Swiffer.  The Ozmo mop roller on the robot vacuum can pop out to hit corners.  Ajay KumarThis means your floors get cleaned with fresh water each time instead of reusing old, dirty water.
    I watched this happen with both the X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni, where the two robots cleaned up spilled milk from the concrete floor of a coffee shop. I was impressed that, for the most part, they left no mess or streaks behind, though concrete flooring likely isn't the type of surface you have in your home, so the real test will be on tile, vinyl and other hard flooring.
    I was also impressed by their ability to navigate the fairly crowded coffee shop.
    I never saw them bump into people's feet or get caught on furniture or carpets.  The Omni docking station comes with hot air drying.  Ajay KumarX9 Pro Omni: The flagship robot mop The X9 Pro Omni is Ecovacs' new flagship and will set you back the most at $1,599.
    Here are some of the key features:  The X9 Pro Omni zeroed in on the milk spill.  Ajay KumarBlast suction: Its 100-watt motor and redesigned airflow path give it more vacuuming power.
    The motor has a high-torque, wider air inlet and more precise fan blades. SuperBoost battery: It comes with Ecovacs' proprietary SuperBoost battery, which the company says can deliver 50% higher discharge current, a 2.5 times longer battery lifespan, and reduced heat output. ZeroTangle 3.0 brushes: This self-maintaining brush system has a main brush and inward-curved side brush that's designed to eliminate pet hair and other debris from wrapping around it.  The Deebot did a good job of making sure it didn't hit carpet with the mop by lifting the mopping pad.  Ajay KumarTruEdge 2.0 3D navigation: Corners are usually a challenge for robot vacuums and mops, which TruEdge is designed to address.
    It has edge sensing and an extending mop and side brush for cleaning corners and along walls. Mop lifting: The X9 Pro can detect carpets and automatically raise the mop to prevent your carpets from getting soggy.
    That's a pretty common feature these days, but it's still nice to see it. Hot-air drying: The Omni docking station blasts the mop with 145-degree Fahrenheit air, drying it out between uses and preventing bacteria growth.Is all this necessary? Maybe not, unless you're doing frequent wet mopping at home.
    (Personally, I usually just vacuum, and my floors are lucky if they get mopped more than once a month.) But if you want the closest thing to a "set it and forget it" robot cleaner -- one that vacuums and mops without you babysitting it -- the X9 Pro Omni might be a good option, though we'll need to put it through its paces at our Louisville vacuum testing lab to see how it performs.  TruEdge 2.0 3D navigation is enhanced by AI to help tackle obstacles and corners.  Ajay KumarT80 Omni: Less expensive, still feature-packedThe T80 Omni strips out some of the X9's features but keeps all the important ones.
    This includes the Ozmo Roller self-washing mop and AI remopping (where it spots sticky spots and hits them twice).
    According to Ecovacs, it has 16 times more downward pressure than traditional mops and self-washes with every pass, just like the X9 Omni.
    There's also the ZeroTangle 3.0 brush, which minimizes tangling and picks up debris better. So what's missing? Well, the docking station uses slightly cooler 113 degrees Fahrenheit air to dry the mop, and the suction isn't quite as strong, but it's still way more capable than some of the more affordable robot vacuums we recommend. 
    Source: https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/ecovacs-new-self-washing-robot-vacuums-try-to-make-mopping-cleaner/#ftag=CAD590a51e" style="color: #0066cc;">https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/ecovacs-new-self-washing-robot-vacuums-try-to-make-mopping-cleaner/#ftag=CAD590a51e
    #saw #ecovacs039 #new #selfwashing #robot #vacuums #that #make #mopping #cleaner
    I Saw Ecovacs' New Self-Washing Robot Vacuums That Make Mopping Cleaner
    Robot mops aren't really a new concept; they've existed for a few years now with mopping pad attachments and dispensers for cleaning solution and water. However, many are just glorified Swiffers. They smear dirty water around your floors and call it "cleaning." But Ecovacs' Deebot X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni try to fix that problem with a self-washing mop that, in theory, won't turn your floor into a petri dish. "With Ozmo Roller Mop technology, we're addressing the hygiene gaps traditional mops leave behind, while innovations like Blast suction and ZeroTangle 3.0 take performance and convenience to the next level," David Qian, CEO of Ecovacs Robotics, said in a news release.I got an early look at these robot mops in a Brooklyn coffee shop ahead of their launch. While they're not cheap, starting at $1,200 for the T80 Omni and $1,600 for the X9 Pro Omni, they have a lot of mopping tech that should help make mopping your living space quicker and more hygienic.  The X9 Pro Omni tackled a milk spill with ease. Ajay KumarSelf-washing robotsThe headline feature here is Ecovacs Ozmmo Roller Mop, which first debuted in this year's X8 Pro Omni model. Unlike older robot mops that drag a damp cloth around until it's disgusting, this one has separate clean and dirty water tanks and scrubs the mop pad clean mid-job. It also applies 16 times more pressure than a typical robot mop, so it's closer to an actual hand-scrubbing than a Swiffer.  The Ozmo mop roller on the robot vacuum can pop out to hit corners.  Ajay KumarThis means your floors get cleaned with fresh water each time instead of reusing old, dirty water. I watched this happen with both the X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni, where the two robots cleaned up spilled milk from the concrete floor of a coffee shop. I was impressed that, for the most part, they left no mess or streaks behind, though concrete flooring likely isn't the type of surface you have in your home, so the real test will be on tile, vinyl and other hard flooring. I was also impressed by their ability to navigate the fairly crowded coffee shop. I never saw them bump into people's feet or get caught on furniture or carpets.  The Omni docking station comes with hot air drying.  Ajay KumarX9 Pro Omni: The flagship robot mop The X9 Pro Omni is Ecovacs' new flagship and will set you back the most at $1,599. Here are some of the key features:  The X9 Pro Omni zeroed in on the milk spill.  Ajay KumarBlast suction: Its 100-watt motor and redesigned airflow path give it more vacuuming power. The motor has a high-torque, wider air inlet and more precise fan blades. SuperBoost battery: It comes with Ecovacs' proprietary SuperBoost battery, which the company says can deliver 50% higher discharge current, a 2.5 times longer battery lifespan, and reduced heat output. ZeroTangle 3.0 brushes: This self-maintaining brush system has a main brush and inward-curved side brush that's designed to eliminate pet hair and other debris from wrapping around it.  The Deebot did a good job of making sure it didn't hit carpet with the mop by lifting the mopping pad.  Ajay KumarTruEdge 2.0 3D navigation: Corners are usually a challenge for robot vacuums and mops, which TruEdge is designed to address. It has edge sensing and an extending mop and side brush for cleaning corners and along walls. Mop lifting: The X9 Pro can detect carpets and automatically raise the mop to prevent your carpets from getting soggy. That's a pretty common feature these days, but it's still nice to see it. Hot-air drying: The Omni docking station blasts the mop with 145-degree Fahrenheit air, drying it out between uses and preventing bacteria growth.Is all this necessary? Maybe not, unless you're doing frequent wet mopping at home. (Personally, I usually just vacuum, and my floors are lucky if they get mopped more than once a month.) But if you want the closest thing to a "set it and forget it" robot cleaner -- one that vacuums and mops without you babysitting it -- the X9 Pro Omni might be a good option, though we'll need to put it through its paces at our Louisville vacuum testing lab to see how it performs.  TruEdge 2.0 3D navigation is enhanced by AI to help tackle obstacles and corners.  Ajay KumarT80 Omni: Less expensive, still feature-packedThe T80 Omni strips out some of the X9's features but keeps all the important ones. This includes the Ozmo Roller self-washing mop and AI remopping (where it spots sticky spots and hits them twice). According to Ecovacs, it has 16 times more downward pressure than traditional mops and self-washes with every pass, just like the X9 Omni. There's also the ZeroTangle 3.0 brush, which minimizes tangling and picks up debris better. So what's missing? Well, the docking station uses slightly cooler 113 degrees Fahrenheit air to dry the mop, and the suction isn't quite as strong, but it's still way more capable than some of the more affordable robot vacuums we recommend.  Source: https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/ecovacs-new-self-washing-robot-vacuums-try-to-make-mopping-cleaner/#ftag=CAD590a51e #saw #ecovacs039 #new #selfwashing #robot #vacuums #that #make #mopping #cleaner
    WWW.CNET.COM
    I Saw Ecovacs' New Self-Washing Robot Vacuums That Make Mopping Cleaner
    Robot mops aren't really a new concept; they've existed for a few years now with mopping pad attachments and dispensers for cleaning solution and water. However, many are just glorified Swiffers. They smear dirty water around your floors and call it "cleaning." But Ecovacs' Deebot X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni try to fix that problem with a self-washing mop that, in theory, won't turn your floor into a petri dish. "With Ozmo Roller Mop technology, we're addressing the hygiene gaps traditional mops leave behind, while innovations like Blast suction and ZeroTangle 3.0 take performance and convenience to the next level," David Qian, CEO of Ecovacs Robotics, said in a news release.I got an early look at these robot mops in a Brooklyn coffee shop ahead of their launch. While they're not cheap, starting at $1,200 for the T80 Omni and $1,600 for the X9 Pro Omni, they have a lot of mopping tech that should help make mopping your living space quicker and more hygienic.  The X9 Pro Omni tackled a milk spill with ease. Ajay KumarSelf-washing robotsThe headline feature here is Ecovacs Ozmmo Roller Mop, which first debuted in this year's X8 Pro Omni model. Unlike older robot mops that drag a damp cloth around until it's disgusting, this one has separate clean and dirty water tanks and scrubs the mop pad clean mid-job. It also applies 16 times more pressure than a typical robot mop, so it's closer to an actual hand-scrubbing than a Swiffer.  The Ozmo mop roller on the robot vacuum can pop out to hit corners.  Ajay KumarThis means your floors get cleaned with fresh water each time instead of reusing old, dirty water. I watched this happen with both the X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni, where the two robots cleaned up spilled milk from the concrete floor of a coffee shop. I was impressed that, for the most part, they left no mess or streaks behind, though concrete flooring likely isn't the type of surface you have in your home, so the real test will be on tile, vinyl and other hard flooring. I was also impressed by their ability to navigate the fairly crowded coffee shop. I never saw them bump into people's feet or get caught on furniture or carpets.  The Omni docking station comes with hot air drying.  Ajay KumarX9 Pro Omni: The flagship robot mop The X9 Pro Omni is Ecovacs' new flagship and will set you back the most at $1,599. Here are some of the key features:  The X9 Pro Omni zeroed in on the milk spill.  Ajay KumarBlast suction: Its 100-watt motor and redesigned airflow path give it more vacuuming power. The motor has a high-torque, wider air inlet and more precise fan blades. SuperBoost battery: It comes with Ecovacs' proprietary SuperBoost battery, which the company says can deliver 50% higher discharge current, a 2.5 times longer battery lifespan, and reduced heat output. ZeroTangle 3.0 brushes: This self-maintaining brush system has a main brush and inward-curved side brush that's designed to eliminate pet hair and other debris from wrapping around it.  The Deebot did a good job of making sure it didn't hit carpet with the mop by lifting the mopping pad.  Ajay KumarTruEdge 2.0 3D navigation: Corners are usually a challenge for robot vacuums and mops, which TruEdge is designed to address. It has edge sensing and an extending mop and side brush for cleaning corners and along walls. Mop lifting: The X9 Pro can detect carpets and automatically raise the mop to prevent your carpets from getting soggy. That's a pretty common feature these days, but it's still nice to see it. Hot-air drying: The Omni docking station blasts the mop with 145-degree Fahrenheit air, drying it out between uses and preventing bacteria growth.Is all this necessary? Maybe not, unless you're doing frequent wet mopping at home. (Personally, I usually just vacuum, and my floors are lucky if they get mopped more than once a month.) But if you want the closest thing to a "set it and forget it" robot cleaner -- one that vacuums and mops without you babysitting it -- the X9 Pro Omni might be a good option, though we'll need to put it through its paces at our Louisville vacuum testing lab to see how it performs.  TruEdge 2.0 3D navigation is enhanced by AI to help tackle obstacles and corners.  Ajay KumarT80 Omni: Less expensive, still feature-packedThe T80 Omni strips out some of the X9's features but keeps all the important ones. This includes the Ozmo Roller self-washing mop and AI remopping (where it spots sticky spots and hits them twice). According to Ecovacs, it has 16 times more downward pressure than traditional mops and self-washes with every pass, just like the X9 Omni. There's also the ZeroTangle 3.0 brush, which minimizes tangling and picks up debris better. So what's missing? Well, the docking station uses slightly cooler 113 degrees Fahrenheit air to dry the mop, and the suction isn't quite as strong, but it's still way more capable than some of the more affordable robot vacuums we recommend. 
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  • #333;">How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con.
    It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us.
    Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI.
    Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence.
    It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically.
    "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything.
    This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET.
    "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development.
    The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing.
    And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development.
    Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s.
    Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon.
    Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money.
    But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below.
    The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype.
    An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading.
    AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains.
    Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language.
    We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said.
    "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say.
    "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said.
    "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there.
    It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators.
    It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything.
    AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers.
    As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it.
    "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said.
    In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that.
    But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence.
    Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks.
    There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction.
    Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios.
    The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society.
    The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable.
    "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said.
    "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing.
    It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors.
    Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals.
    For better or worse, life is not science fiction.
    Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism.
    Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates.
    Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models.
    But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors.
    That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained.
    There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm.
    "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said.
    Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness.
    Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag.
    "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed.
    But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information.
    For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
    #0066cc;">#how #spot #hype #and #avoid #the #con #according #two #experts #quotartificial #intelligence #we039re #being #frank #bill #goods #you #are #sold #line #someone039s #pocketsquotthat #heart #argument #that #linguist #emily #bender #sociologist #alex #hannamake #their #new #bookthe #conit039s #useful #guide #for #anyone #whose #life #has #intersected #with #technologies #artificial #who039s #questioned #real #usefulness #which #most #usbender #professor #university #washington #who #was #named #one #time #magazine039s #influential #people #hanna #director #research #nonprofit #distributed #instituteand #former #member #ethical #team #googlethe #explosion #chatgpt #late #kicked #off #cycle #aihype #authors #define #quotaggrandizementquot #technology #convinced #need #buy #invest #quotlest #miss #out #entertainment #pleasure #monetary #reward #return #investment #market #sharequot #but #it039s #not #first #nor #likely #last #scholars #government #leaders #regular #have #been 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#talk #about #airplanes #flyers #rulers #measurers #seems #only #space #comes #upquotthe #quotsuper #intelligencequot #general #intelligencemany #ceos #struggle #what #exactly #agi #essentially #ai039s #form #potentially #making #decisions #handling #tasksthere039s #still #evidence #anywhere #near #future #enabled #popularbuzzwordmany #futurelooking #statements #borrow #tropes #fictionboth #boosters #doomers #those #potential #harm #rely #scifi #scenariosthe #aipowered #futuristic #societythe #bemoan #where #robots #over #world #wipe #humanitythe #connecting #thread #unshakable #smarter #inevitablequotone #things #lot #discourse #fixed #question #fast #get #therequot #then #claim #particular #step #path #marketingit #helpful #able #itquotpart #popular #autonomous #functional #assistant #mean #fulfilling #promises #worldchanging #innovation #investorsplanning #utopia #dystopia #keeps #investors #forward #burn #admit #they039ll #carbon #emission #goalsfor #better #worse #fictionwhenever #someone #claiming #product #straight #movie #sign #approach #skepticism #goes #outputs #evaluatedone #easiest #ways #marketing #fluff #look #disclosing #operatesmany #won039t #tell #content #train #modelsbut #usually #disclose #does #data #sometimes #brag #stack #against #competitorsthat039s #start #typically #privacy #policiesone #top #complaints #concernsfrom #creators #trainedthere #many #lawsuits #alleged #copyright #infringement #concerns #bias #capacity #harmquotif #wanted #system #designed #move #rather #reproduce #oppressions #past #curating #dataquot #saidinstead #grabbing #quoteverything #wasn039t #nailed #internetquot #saidif #you039re #hearing #thing #statistic #highlights #its #effectivenesslike #other #researchers #called #finding #citation #red #flagquotanytime #selling #access #evaluated #thin #icequot #saidit #frustrating #disappointing #certain #information #were #developedbut #recognizing #holes #sales #pitch #deflate #though #informationfor #check #fullchatgpt #glossary #offapple
    How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con. It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us. Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI. Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically. "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything. This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET. "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development. The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing. And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development. Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s. Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon. Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money. But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below. The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype. An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading. AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains. Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language. We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said. "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say. "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said. "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there. It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators. It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything. AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers. As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it. "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said. In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that. But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence. Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks. There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction. Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios. The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society. The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable. "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said. "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing. It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors. Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals. For better or worse, life is not science fiction. Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism. Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates. Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models. But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors. That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained. There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm. "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said. Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness. Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag. "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed. But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information. For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
    المصدر: www.cnet.com
    #how #spot #hype #and #avoid #the #con #according #two #experts #quotartificial #intelligence #we039re #being #frank #bill #goods #you #are #sold #line #someone039s #pocketsquotthat #heart #argument #that #linguist #emily #bender #sociologist #alex #hannamake #their #new #bookthe #conit039s #useful #guide #for #anyone #whose #life #has #intersected #with #technologies #artificial #who039s #questioned #real #usefulness #which #most #usbender #professor #university #washington #who #was #named #one #time #magazine039s #influential #people #hanna #director #research #nonprofit #distributed #instituteand #former #member #ethical #team #googlethe #explosion #chatgpt #late #kicked #off #cycle #aihype #authors #define #quotaggrandizementquot #technology #convinced #need #buy #invest #quotlest #miss #out #entertainment #pleasure #monetary #reward #return #investment #market #sharequot #but #it039s #not #first #nor #likely #last #scholars #government #leaders #regular #have #been #intrigued 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    How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con. It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us. Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI. Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically. "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything. This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET. "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development. The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing. And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development. Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s. Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon. Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money. But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below. The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype. An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading. AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains. Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language. We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said. "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say. "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said. "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there. It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators. It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything. AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers. As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it. "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said. In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that. But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence. Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks. There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction. Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios. The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society. The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable. "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said. "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing. It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors. Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals. For better or worse, life is not science fiction. Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism. Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates. Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models. But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors. That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained. There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm. "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said. Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness. Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag. "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed. But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information. For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
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