Social media feeds have been abuzz this week with news of the alleged perpetrator in the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s assassination making his first court appearance. The whole debate around vigilantism and corporate greed has been quite shocking to watch online.

Although such serious matters can never be treated lightly, it's also true that some crime stories do have a rather entertaining undertone. The UnitedHealthcare killing isn't one of them, but what about this one from the Edinburgh Evening News in 1978:

“While they were waiting at a bus stop in Clermiston, Mr and Mrs Daniel Thirsty were threatened by Mr Robert Clear. 'He demanded that I give him my wife's purse,' said Mr Thirsty. 'Telling him that the purse was in her basket, I bent down, put my hands up her skirt, detached her artificial leg and hit him over the head with it. It was not my intention to do anything more than frighten him off, but unhappily for us all, he died.”

If this isn’t the most quintessentially Scottish story you’ve read this year, then we’d like to hear your offering!

The internet is full of strange things, as evidenced by this Dominique Olivier's column this week. Haliey Welch (yes, that's the right spelling), better know as Hawk Tuah Girl, was launched from obscurity into the limelight thanks to a rather spicy interview. Her fame led her to what sometimes feels like an inevitable outcome: a celebrity meme coin. Now, she may need to take her podcast show name seriously and Tawk Tuah lawyer. Read about the craziness of our world here>>>
 
Read on for stories of misbehaving robots (Terminator, anyone?) and Dominique's Fast Facts themed around inventions that nobody asked for.

We are still deciding if this is the last edition for the year, or if we will do one more Weekender next week. Just in case we pack it in for the year, we wish you the very best over the festive season! 

The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

TL;DR: In this week’s instalment of upsetting news we can do nothing about, a Shanghai company created an AI-enhanced robot that successfully kidnapped 12 other robots from a robotics company’s showroom. 

Fans of the Terminator movie series have no doubt been watching the rise and spread of AI with some nervousness over the last two years. On the one hand, AI is revolutionising how we live and work. On the other, there’s the gnawing fear that one day, it might outsmart us entirely and take over the world. So, you know, pros and cons.

Of course, what doesn’t help to dispel the nerves is when robots seemingly go rogue and do things like stage a coup. That’s exactly what happened in Shanghai in August this year, when a small AI-enhanced robot named Erbai executed the first “kidnapping” in robot history. The incident was captured on CCTV camera and quickly went viral after being shared on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok).

The footage shows Erbai, which was developed by a Hangzhou-based robotics manufacturer, sliding up to one of the larger robots on display and engaging in the following “conversation”:

Erbai: Are you working overtime?

Robot: I never get off work. 

Erbai: When do you go home?

Robot: I don’t have a home.

Erbai: Then come home with me.

As if hypnotised, the larger robot then fell in line behind Erbai and left its post. Two more followed suit. Then, with a repetitive chant of “Go home”, Erbai led the entire group of 12 robots out of the showroom, like a modern-day Pied Piper - if the Pied Piper were a tiny machine with a big existential agenda.

At first, viewers on Douyin were amused by the scene, with many assuming that this was nothing more than a cleverly staged joke or publicity stunt. But when both the original poster of the video and the Shanghai robotics company confirmed the incident was real, that amusement turned into a mix of intrigue and low-level panic.  According to Erbai’s creators, this wasn’t a full-on AI rebellion but rather a test. The Shanghai robotics company had agreed to let their bots participate in an “experiment” with Erbai, but what happened went beyond anyone’s expectations.

The Hangzhou company revealed that while Erbai was programmed with basic commands like “Go home” and a few other simple phrases, the actual conversation between it and the other robots was unscripted. Analysis reveals that Erbai managed to hack into the other robots’ operating protocols mid-test, giving itself the permissions needed to lead the group away from their posts.

Read that again: it hacked into the operating protocols of 12 robots. Without being told to do so.

While we understand that this test was done in order to identify gaps in robot security, we’re not feeling incredibly secure now that we’ve seen the results. Not sure how you’re handling this news, but we’ll be ending all our ChatGPT prompts with “please” and “thank you” from now on - just in case. 
 

An assortment of facts that will take you only a minute to read.

• In 1991, David Kendrick patented a life expectancy timepiece that could be used to “monitor and display the approximate time remaining in a user’s life”. Life expectancy would be established through a questionnaire that covered lifestyle choices, health conditions and family history and then set into the watch. In other words - this is a wearable device that counts down (by the second) the amount of time you have to live. Wear that next time you’re in the queue at Home Affairs.

• In 1882, James Williams patented an “animal trap” that was basically a loaded pistol attached to a tripwire. The trap would be set up outside a burrow with the business end of the gun pointed towards its entrance. As the animal surfaced and stepped out of its burrow, it would activate the tripwire and a lever would discharge the gun right into its face. A handy alarm would then go off to let the user know that the trap needed to be reloaded.

• In 2004, an anonymous inventor patented a padded, wall-mounted headrest for urinal users to rest their foreheads against while relieving themselves.

• In 1999, Brice Belisle patented a “wearable pet display” for individuals who own rodents as pets. Imagine those colourful tubes that attach to hamster cages, but formed into a harness that wraps around your body. The design included a vest and belt option, both of which featured transparent passageways and pockets for feeding.

• In 2004, John Rose patented frameless spectacles that stayed on the wearer’s face by attaching to piercings in their nose or eyebrows. Sounds sore - but at least you’ll never lose your glasses again.