HOUSE ROBOTS ARE COMING—AND THEY WILL BE DANGEROUSLY CUTE

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

The Familiar is a soft, furry robot about the size of a dog created by Familiar Machines & Magic, a company started by Colin Angle, the creator of the Roomba. It uses AI to communicate and form intimate bonds with members of the household. The robot is designed to capture presence, not attention: it has no advertising model, engagement-driven feed, or incentive structure that rewards maximizing screen time or interaction time. While the Familiar can connect to the internet, by default, it will not send any data to the cloud and it will ask permission before accessing anything online.