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Comment by IlikeKitties | Hacker News Reader

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant.

Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk you through an emergency [0]. I can see an AI Assistant be useful during emergencies.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zApKRGDs1sk

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Stuff like this makes me think about the benefits which developing countries currently have. They have access to such a vast amount of information, like Wikipedia, any book on AA or torrents, YouTube tutorials, free AI chatbots and what not. Yet the social problems like the ones caused through corruption, localized conflicts and wars are so big, that none of this information is of any value. Who's to blame?

But don't a lot of developing countries have similar access? And especially torrenting is much more common in less developed countries where there's no copyright enforcement.

> “…benefits which developing countries currently have.”

The story of mobile phone use in African continent, where there are only the worst roads and no land lines, is an astonishing story of leaping forward through technology.

It is of value though. Asian farmers were able to use cell phones to check weather and market prices to be able to grow more and sell for a better price [1]. Mobile banking apps have allowed poor Kenyans access to formal financial services, improving financial stability for those most vulnerable [2]. Being able to send money to disparate family members safely and securely protects them from corrupt local informal networks. Access to modern technology developed in first world countries enable poor counties to skip over expensive intermediate steps, like going from no phones to cell towers without building out a land line network. The #saveourgirls social media campaign in response to the Boco Haram kidnappings was started locally, after frustration with lack of action by the inept/corrupt local government, and brought international pressure, support, and aid.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259029112...

[2] https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/p...

I don’t know who it is in other countries. But here, as corruption and local conflicts rise, without a doubt, 100%, it’s going to be libertarians.

I wonder if such a device could be a good counterpoint to cloud services in a business environment. Just as a reaction to the difficulty and cost of compliance when data is online.

> in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices

Like a phone

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency"

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