• macniel@feddit.org
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    6 days ago

    I would say that when the intelligent washing machine has access to sensors (weight, hardness of water, types of laundry detergents) and actuators (releasing the right amount of detergents, water, spin to the barrel) it could make an optimal washing of laundry.

    • synae[he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 days ago

      I would counter that non-optimal washing by doing what I ask via primitive buttons and dials is perfectly acceptable, and actually preferable

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        Good for you. You might also be interested in this tool called a “washtub” that lets you do everything exactly how you want, without needing to trust a computer to interpret the positions of fancy dials and figure out how much to agitate your socks.

    • Carnelian@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      No, it couldn’t. That’s pure tech bro logic without any basis whatsoever in reality.

      The machines already have these sensors. There’s simply nothing for “intelligence” to contribute to the process. It’s not enough for you to point to the presence of various sensors and claim it could do something with them when in reality this is already a solved problem. Additionally, the hypothetical AI-equipped machine itself will also be worse, using significantly more energy and being less reliable.

      I say hypothetical, because the specific LG machine we’re talking about doesn’t even actually have any AI component. Yes I am aware of the difference between generative and analytical models; it has neither. Just normal sensors and algorithms that all modern washing machines have had for years. They threw the “AI” language on it to market it to people. You know, like a scam. Because the delightful thing about “AI” is you don’t need to provide any benefit to your marks, their imagination will do the work for you

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        I love it when people angrily declare that something AI researchers figured out in the 60s can’t be AI because it involves algorithms.

        Using an algorithm to take a set of continuous input variables and map them to a set of continuous output variables in a way that maximizes result quality is an AI algorithm, even if it’s using a precomputed lookup table.

        AI has been a field since the 1950s. Not every technique for measuring the environment and acting on it needs to be some advanced deep learning model for it to be a product of AI research.

      • macniel@feddit.org
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        6 days ago

        so that specific LG machine can detect the water hardness, what fabrics are used in the clothes it should launder, what detergents are available?

        • Carnelian@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Do you have an example of an AI system being deployed to do these things or is it, as I said, pure hypothetical tech bro logic?

          But yeah it basically squirts some water in at the top, then analyzes the water that reaches the bottom (and how much) to infer the fabric types. That same information is then considered when dispensing detergent and fabric softener. Simple sensors and tables