More creepy technology: "Female" Airport Avatars [View all]

[MadrasT]

This Flirtatious NYC Airport Avatar Was Definitely Designed by a Dude

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has installed in Newark Liberty, JFK, and LaGuardia airports an interactive avatar projected onto a plexiglass silhouette of a woman's body. Lost and disoriented travelers can ask her for help with things like getting to the correct gate, security checkpoint rules, and duty-free shopping.

And all of this is fine and dandy—and I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing—but why is she so goddamn flirtatious?

Even without her come hither facial expressions, the dialog alone is absurd:

"I'm so versatile, I could be used for just about anything."

Really? ANYthing?

More at link: Flirtateous NYC Airport Avatar

From the Yahoo article "New York City airports install new, expensive holograms to help you find your way":

How the new technology will pan out has yet to be seen, but we'll be the first to state the obvious — The Port Authority just paid $180,000 to rent three (somewhat creepy) fake humans when they could have paid half that to hire real people. Real people, who would presumably be better equipped to handle actual questions. But then again, real humans wouldn't exactly be the future, now, would they?

More at link: NYC airports install...

There's video at the links, too.

Ugh.

Just what I want to do when I am stranded/lost at JFK... try to make a stupid sexygirl computer understand my questions. (As if I am not already pissed off enough just being in JFK.)