I'm most interested in robots that will...
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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 12782 votes
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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 40 comments
Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:5, Insightful)
Just that most mundane chores will forever feel like a waste of time. Tidying, dusting, washing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming. Who really gets anything from doing these things? No one.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
I listen to podcasts while doing chores, but I could listen to podcasts while I play my favorite MMO just as well.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Yep, going the dishes with a podcast is like night and day difference for me. I can endure a substantial amount of housecleaning with podcasts that I simply couldn't before.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:4, Insightful)
With autonomous cars, intersections could just be four way, no cloverleafs, no spaghetti-bowls... just high volume highways meeting at right angles with the car computers spacing vehicles out so they can travel through by slightly speeding up or slowing down. Since the human element isn't there, vehicles can be packed closer together and still travel at highway speeds safely. If a vehicle's TPMS goes off, it can automatically pull over to a breakdown lane, and traffic wouldn't be slowed down other than the initial pull-over (i.e. no other cars stopping for rubberneckers.)
Having cars automated can turn a stressful commute into 1-2 hours of additional sleep, reading, or quiet time to relax before the daily grind.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Bad plan. The minimum distances would be smaller, but the cars would have to slow down anyway to accommodate for the crossing cars. Those slight slows for each car would add up to standstills.The current cloverleafs would still be required in order to keep the speed.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
You are telling me that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com] and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com] are better than any computers could do?
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
just what I need, more work time
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
When my girlfriend (now wife) carpooled I NEVER did work stuff when I was the passenger, neither did she. A moving vehicle is a terrible place to try to get work done. There is a lot of motion around you, which is a major distraction, and you are in a moving, jostling object, which also sucks for concentration. Besides, it was only about 25 minutes each way (already too long), which is an annoying short time to really get a task done in.
My guess is that if there were autonomous cars they would need to come with infotainment systems, as almost all folks flying solo would end up watching TV (or porn...), or eating breakfast at best. I don't see it as ever being a grand source of untapped productivity.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
I do that on the train every day already. I mostly read, play games or study language. I have occasionally done light developing too, but it's too short a time frame to get into it and really get anything done.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Be more efficient. I spend less than an hour a week on all those tasks. Granted, I don't do most of them.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Those chores are my meditation. ..." you'll soon get bored to death and you'll never make it to the top.
It's like climbing a big mountain. If all you think about is "left, right, left, right,
If you manage to enter the zone, it can actually be a very pleasing experience.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:3)
Maybe after working in a mine, a foundry, a power plant, a farm, a factory, and a retail store you could make such a statement but until then doing the laundry and vacuuming will always just be a waste of time. Bring on the robots and I'll do my best thinking with an activity of my choosing.
Growing up I harvested tobacco for 3 summers starting at aged 13. I've worked in a factory feeding an arbor saw painting machine. I've worked 3 years unloading trucks and stocking shelves in department stores. After harvesting the tobacco plants for the first couple hours it kinda surprised me that we had to keep on going for six more hours. And then come back the next day and do it again. It was a major motivator to get an education.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Are just putting that dull repetitive work on another human being.
I can afford that service, but elect not to get it for that reason.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Because you are not a 'job creator' :)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:3)
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
He's a tool of the free market. Hypocrisy comes standard.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:3)
Though that guy is an idiot, and his thinking is anti-free market (which you don't seem to understand).
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
Gardening, at least, can be a hobby of choice. Cleaning the house again never is.
Re:Basic jobs, but not to avoid talking (Score:2)
If Gardening is a hobby, you're doing it wrong.
What? (Score:5, Funny)
Not that I'm saying that would be my answer...
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:2)
What? No 'date me' option?
Well Pygmalion [wikipedia.org], you had better start sculpting then.
Re:What? (Score:2)
It's like you never saw the health video in high school.
...post on Slashdot for me. (Score:3)
Full english breakfast (Score:5, Insightful)
We should use that for AIs instead of Turing test.
--Coder
Re:Full english breakfast (Score:4, Insightful)
I want a robot that can cook a delicious full english breakfast. With black pudding!
We should use that for AIs instead of Turing test.
--Coder
I think your request involves a oxymoron "Delicious and English [cooking]"
Re:Full english breakfast (Score:2)
Re:Full english breakfast (Score:2)
I think this particular use of "Delicious" means, "Just like Mum used to make".
(Or Dad, in fact Saturday morning bacon was definitely my Dad's thing, and still is.)
Re:Full english breakfast (Score:2)
I don't mind driving (Score:2)
I'd be really impressed if I could get out of the car at one airport, leave the luggage in the trunk, and have the car meet me wherever I landed.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:3, Insightful)
If it could do that, why even get on the airplane?
Just opaque the windows and sleep or work or otherwise entertain yourself privately the entire trip... If I could buy a car that could do that for my twice daily, 45 minute commute, I would.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
With autonomous cars... well, vans, in theory, one could have the vehicle do a trip and be on the road 24/7 except when pulling over to refuel. This might be boring, but for someone who doesn't really care to fly, being able to set the vehicle to go someplace 300-500 miles away, crash for the night in the back, then wake up at the destination might be a good thing. A longer trip might be doable by having the car drive eight hours and stop at a city, take a tour of the town, go back in, crash, while the vehicle drives to the next town. It takes a lot more time than an airplane flight, but could be more interesting, especially with the fact that most flights cause one to be sick for 1-2 days afterwards.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
Great idea, but how do you plan on doing those things while wearing your seat belt?
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:3)
If collision rates go as low as other modes of transportation, seat belts will not be needed. The biggest thing autonomous cars gets rid of is human error. A computer won't be sitting there texting until horns go off behind the vehicle. A computer won't be fumbling with a stick-shift when getting up from a hill. DWI isn't an issue with a computer, just as cleaning up horse manure behind a vehicle is not an issue with a Prius.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
We already have that thing in Europe - it's called night trains. Depart in the evening instead of taking a screamingly early morning flight, have some food and nice vistas in the restaurant, work a bit in your room. Arrive in the city center next morning. No hotel cost.
I like it at least. Granted, I can work from my laptop so I can travel a bit longer than strict overnight without losing "efficiency", but I've been traveling this way when I have had some business or vacation in continental Europe (middle Sweden to Paris, Amsterdam, Italy, southern Spain ...). I really hope we get more, instead of less of this. With some modernization, and utilizing the high-speed rail network, we could do many even longer relations strictly overnight (departing 19-23-something, arriving at 7-8 in the morning).
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
Nice idea where distances are cooperative. New York to LA--not so much
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
In America, 300 years is a long time.
In Europe, 300 miles is a long way.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
The approach Google is taking with their self-driving cars is all wrong. The self-driving car should not look like a Smart car or a Fiat, it should look and work like a limo. I should be able to get comfortable and relax so I can use my time productively, carry on a conversation, sleep, or whatever else happens in the back of a limo.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
Maybe something like a box van? That way, it can have a rear couch which can drop into a bed or be used for reading, a mini-bar, or another chair/table for eating at. This way, on a longer commute, the vehicle can be used for breakfast as well as dinner. Some camper vans have a full size bathroom and shower as well, so a three hour commute would just mean fetching the latest thing from Netflix, then dropping the sofa and crashing.
This also can spawn industries as well. For example, a service where the auto-car drives to at 2:00 in the morning where a grocery store stocks up the minibar fridge and cleans up the garbage from the previous night.
Re:I don't mind driving (Score:2)
That's called valet parking. It exists at many malls.
As for the other one, why wouldn't you just go in the self-driving car in a wide, comfortable seat that reclines all the way back? Your scenario limits you to the travel time of the car anyway.
Missing option (Score:3)
Re:Missing option (Score:2)
It is virtually indistinguishable from "fight crime" with the right programming errors.
Amy: He knows when you are sleeping,
Farnsworth: He knows when you're on the can,
Leela: He'll hunt you down and blast your ass from here to Pakistan.
Zoidberg: Oh,
Hermes: You'd better not breathe, you'd better not move,
Bender: You're better off dead, I'm telling you, dude.
Fry: Santa Claus is gunning you down!
Fight Crime... but (Score:4, Funny)
Do things for me (Score:2)
Clean house, do the dishes, yardwork, answer questions
Remove plastic waste from sea (Score:2)
Drive me around = I can get drunk (Score:5, Insightful)
Robots driving people means that people in suburban and rural areas can go to a bar and get drunk, without worrying about how they get home.
This is a major improvement - both for drinkers and for the people that have to share the road with them.
Re:Drive me around = I can get drunk (Score:2)
This also makes long distance bar-hopping a possiblity. For example, get drunk on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, crawl into the car and pass out... wake up in the driveway back in Austin, or even Houston.
Re:Drive me around = I can get drunk (Score:3)
If you don't live in NYC or near another major metro/subway position, and you're too fucking stupid to call a cab instead of driving home drunk, then drinking becomes very dangerous.
FTFY.
Re:Drive me around = I can get drunk (Score:3)
This is one of the ways in which I think the advent of self-driving cars will be really fascinating. It will drive a wedge into various anti-drunk-driving groups, separating them into those who actually are concerned about the dangers posed by drunk drivers (who will be ecstatic that people who are drunk can now be driven by their own cars) and those who see anti-drunk-driving measures as just another way to fight against drinking in general (and those will fight against self-driving cars, because that will take away another avenue that they would use to fight drinking)
There will be a similar split among people opposed to texting and/or talking on cellphones while driving, between those concerned primarily with safety and those who seem to have a deep seated hatred for cellphones and the people who use them.
Automating basic tasks means sales/investment (Score:2)
Robots that do mundane tasks are easier to make than the others on this list (many already exist, such as the Roomba). They also already sell well, meaning that incremental innovation in this sector will probably be profitable and easy to finance -- and will eventually help to produce much more complex robots. It seems to me that this is where much of the innovation will likely happen, so I'm interested in watching this sector. Yes, we can already spend billions of dollars to make a specialized robot that will explore a planet/moon/comet/etc., but this is pretty far from general advances in robotics that will make it feasible to have lots of robots perform lots of generic tasks easily -- and thus to have robots become a part of everyday life.
Run and fetch things for me (Score:2)
This is probably the most complicated to achieve. If it can navigate unknown situations in an elegant way, and learn new tasks and methods, then the rest are easy.
Self driving cars (Score:5, Interesting)
There will be a number of significant implications from self driving cars that I want to have happen.
- Decreased accident rates, resulting in less damage and therefore smaller insurance companies
- Far fewer traffic violations, such that traffic police will either be let go or reassigned to more pressing matters
- Shitty pay driver jobs will be nonexistent
Essentially, it helps push towards increasing unemployment and that is good in my opinion because it will require a new train of thought in how the world works.
Re:Self driving cars (Score:2)
Laws can be changed if there is sufficient will. By having to pay out smaller claims, they also no longer need as many employees. It will be a steady drop as more and more cars go driverless. If premiums are held constant, insurance companies will be raking in massive profits. But the free market will easily take care of that because plenty of other people will want a piece of that pie. The real challenge will be whether someone wants to insure the software company developing the self-drive and what it will cover.
I disapprove of robotic reporting. Largely because you could get multiple tickets before being informed of the first one. Also, your definition of less polite drivers may differ from mine.
Re:Self driving cars (Score:2)
I don't have to run anything. It will happen regardless.
Automation and other technology developments will continue to remove the need for a number of jobs at a rate faster than we can generate new ones, creating an increasing class of the unemployed. It's not really a question of if it will happen but when.
Most interested in robots that will... (Score:2)
Pondering on singularity AI's, I always thought the biggest hurdle to a full range AI that can advance science faster than we can conceive of it, was the physical limitation. Some research can be pondered on but a lot of research and advances needs to be done in the real world. What good is an AI that can't test out if its theory on a 30% stronger steel that's 50% lighter, is possible?
There is only one option... (Score:2)
There's only one option where you can't readily find a human to do it for you cheaper/better/faster. The only place with no humans.
Missing option (Score:2)
Sex bots (Score:2)
What category does "have sex with me" fall under?
Re:Sex bots (Score:3)
Re:Sex bots (Score:2)
Domo arigato, fister roboto!
Re:Sex bots (Score:2)
Re:Sex bots (Score:2)
The idea that a toddler sex bot is a "harmless outlet" and a "sensible product" is, in short, hooey.
...so I don't have to talk to humans (Score:2)
Or because I can't talk to humans (or the humans won't talk back).
I assumed "automating basic jobs..." was the option for those looking for sexbots, although several others could be viewed that way ("Cure my ills"?)
The logical choice (Score:2)
Talk (Score:2)
If we can create a true AI, it will be a miracle on par of finding aliens. For the first time, our species will not be alone. We will have a partner that is capable of their own wants and desires. Progress should become astounding and the new philosophies and inventions manifold.
Re:Talk (Score:2)
Not to be insulting, but this is literally the worst idea ever.
Suggest you read up on paperclip maximizers [lesswrong.com] to see why...
Aliens are actually much less threatening than AIs, because we can understand them better. Our goals are much more similar--our value functions seek to maximize chances of successful reproduction, meaning we seek to mate (or whatever) and gather resources to maximize the chances of reproduction for our descendants. An AI could want to do any number of things seemingly tangential to our lives, but in the end would consume all the resources available, including the atoms in our bodies. That is, they are TRULY alien, thinking and acting in ways that simply don't pop up on our radar as being in the realm of possibility.
Re:Talk (Score:2)
Obligitory:
Automate basic jobs, but... (Score:2)
Automate basic jobs, so I can talk to humans.
I view this as an extension of using cruise control in a car, or an autopilot in a plane. Let robots do what they're good at, so humans can do what they are good at.
...laura
ObSciFiRef (Score:2)
"The Cylons were created by Man. ...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
Every year the Colonials sent an officer.
The Cylons sent no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years."
- Battlestar Galactica Reboot (2003) opening subtitles
If we can imagine history (even if we don't have a frame of reference such as a DNA sample from a Human-Cylon hybrid we call Mitochondrial Eve. Watch the series, you'll get it), we can learn from it.
Can't we?
All of you are pussies. (Score:2)
I want heavily armed robots... I want a future full of ED-209's patrolling the streets of Detroit.
You have 10 seconds to comply.....
Grow food (Score:2)
Re:Grow food (Score:2)
If you insist:
Re:Grow food (Score:2)
small-scale farming bots
Huey, Dewey and Louie.
sexbots? (Score:2)
You left out the sexbots? What were you thinking?
Yes, I am complaining about missing options!
Are we... (Score:2)
Currently ahead at 22% the 'not wanting to talk to people' is rather high. yeah, I chose it too...
Talk to humans? (Score:2)
Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to entertain a bunch of meatbags. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don't. [Sigh]
Re:Pleasure (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
That would be "basic jobs".
Re:Pleasure (Score:3)
That's why I chose basic jobs, yes.
What could be more basic than sex?
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
I cannot find "have sex" among the choices.
I know, that's a shame. It would have been the most popular answer.
Re:Pleasure (Score:3)
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
I dunno, maybe that makes me weird or something...
No. The opposite: It means that you are a normal, average human being. Sex is exciting for the reaction of the partner. Without this expression of desire and enjoyment, sex is just routine, empty and boring physical procedure.
Sex robots are a fantasy and nothing more. Just like threesomes: Probably every single man has that fantasy, but in practice it is rarely done and awkward.
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
So why would the fembot not have exciting reaction? I though we are talking AI here with all that implies. Btw, what do you think about the portrayal of the robot-gigolo in A.I. -- I think Jude Law played that part. It did not seem to bother the ladies that he was "programmed" rather than exhibiting "real feelings". BTW, what is a "real feeling" and what separates it from programing? From what I see we are all programmed [by biology, society ect..] so what's the big deal? What I am trying to say is that if the programing is good no-one will care that it is "not real" . you will quickly forget even that it is programmed so you can savoir the pleasure. Defense mechanism of some sorts...for another interesting take on the matter see Asimov's robot story "Satisfaction guaranteed" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_Guaranteed_%28short_story%29]
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
Indeed - the Turing test applies to fembots too.
And shouldn't be particularly hard anyhow - a good part of women fake excitement and orgasm pretty badly, and a good part of the rest just lie there anyhow, closing their eyes and thinking of England.
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
In practice, it is absolutely doable even for those of us who barely ever get laid. It is, however, awkward.
People often discount how social women are. You might have trouble getting some girl to know to hook up with you; but that same girl, if she gets it in her head to have a 3-way or something, might bring it up for no apparent reason if she's comfortable with you. Suddenly, you're like, "What, wait, what? 3 of your friends? And you? Just me? Wait, no, go back... I don't think I have the stamina for that... I mean that's a lot of multi-tasking."
It happens. It happens more often when you're unattached (your girlfriend is less likely to be hanging out with you plus a friend and move from cheeky girl-talk to raunchy situations since you're around; two girls you just hang out with sometimes might decide to go for it if it crosses their minds first). It's also an amazingly efficient way to break a man's boundaries and send him skittering to the nearest corner.
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
dude...
just to be clear, a 3-way does not involve your mythical girl bringing 3 of her friends....
PS-this is not a zero based arithmetic problem; it also doesn't involve your mythical girl bringing 2 of her friends
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
Everyone knows that hookers only pretend, and yet they're still in business.
As long as they sell fleshlights, sexbots have a market.
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
Re:Pleasure (Score:3)
Re:Pleasure (Score:2)
Re: Pleasure (Score:2)
Re:Missing Option (Score:3, Interesting)
This. Does it qualify as curing my ills? Is the terminality of the human condition an "ill?"
I really hope there's something interesting after we die, but I kind of suspect not, so I'd really like to take part in this universe for longer than my ~100 year human allotment.
If consciousness is just a sum of the parts, we should be able to create it in a machine... Again, I kind of hope not, but it would be pretty interesting.
Re:Abstaining (Score:3)
Re:How can... (Score:2)
Because you already have the FuFMe with the Lucy LiuBot plugin?
Heh, I said "plug in".
Re:It's the *most* part that gets me... (Score:2)
lemme help you:
A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent designed primarily to replace human effort.
A robot is differentiated from an android by virtue of the fact that an android is specifically designed to physically resemble a human. A robot can be nothing more than a computer controlled collection of servos on an armature, right up to an automatic earthmover, space probe, UCAV, photocopier bed...
Re:Fighting other people (Score:2)
Yes, but perversely compelling.