Meet Starboy, the alien toy that hates being called AI

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You calling this a toy suggests to me that you do not want this to be a companion.

I mean, it's definitely a companion in the same way that a cat is a companion. Like, as cool as it may look and as much clout as it may get you, nobody really wants a Terminator robot.

Of all the things Silicon Valley could build with AI, Daniel Kunz went in the opposite direction. No apps, no agents, no bicycle for the mind, just a toy with some impressive tech built in. Today on Access, we're diving into Starboy, the little alien that hangs off your bag, purrs like a cat, and might just break through to the elusive world of fashion and culture. But first, Alex and I discuss his visit to Anthropic and my very failed image generation experiments with Claude. Welcome to Access. [gentle music] Welcome to Access, or as Alex says, "It's Access time,"

I'm gonna stop saying that. [laughs]

Which, uh, has debi- has debatable, uh, value, but it's, it's actually growing on me. Alex, how's it going?

I'm good, man. How are you?

Well, uh, I sound better than yesterday. Um, I'm using this opportunity to serve you with notice that I may not be able to make drinks tonight because I'm almost positive that I have the human metapneumovirus.

What is that?

Which is, according to the LA Times, not actually something new, but I just love how scary it sounds. It's just, like, a new virus that all the children give to their parents for fun that is kind of like an infernal combo of, like, bronchitis and, and epic sinus headache.

You sound totally fine.

Well, I am a podcast host who can take a lot of pills and get over this stuff, uh, for the purpose of the next 15 minutes if need be.

Okay. But you're actually sick, so yeah, we will cancel drinks tonight.

Yeah, we'll see. Um, or you could just kind of shake my elbow if you really want to.

[laughs]

But, um, I've got, I've got Japanese remedies over here. I've got guaifenesin, which is way cheaper than Mucinex. I've got Sudafed, which is the only thing that works with sinus headaches. And the sponsor of this show, Simply Saline-

[laughs]

... of which I have bought 100,000 cans. I cannot... Dude, I cannot believe I pay $10 for a f- friggin' can of saltwater, but it works.

We need to get Vox Media on Simply Saline and ZBiotics for the show at this point.

Well, especially I think in the wake of COVID, where we've discovered just how disgusting the air is around us. Um, there was actually some good research, uh, bullish, long Simply