THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images
If there’s a silver lining in USA’s first Olympic loss since 2004 on Sunday, it’s that AI may eliminate the human species before we have to witness Iran taking us into double OT.
At halftime of the United States’ 83-76 loss to France, Olympic organizers trotted out The Shape of Water beast to demonstrate to America how to make a shot in international ball without relying on the refs to bail you out.
The hoopin’ robot’s name is CUE, a Toyota-developed creation that was first built in 2018 and upgraded to reflect the evolution of AI technology.
Robots are taking free throws at the #TokyoOlympics.
Automatic. pic.twitter.com/AUoc6zSj4N
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 25, 2021
A basketball robot. For your pleasure. pic.twitter.com/5LZF2vpwNg
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) July 25, 2021
there's a robot at the #TokyoOlympics showing off its RANGE
(via @DanWetzel)pic.twitter.com/xNXOlRIchM
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) July 25, 2021
It’s amazing how the internet can turn some good clean fun into a targeted bully campaign against a guy at his wits end.
https://twitter.com/pblest/status/1419312870953734149?s=20
Sixers are NBA champions if we have this robot instead of Ben Simmons https://t.co/7eVsMOOCLP
— Mike Bradley (@RealMikeBradley) July 25, 2021
Ben Simmons watching the basketball robot drill these shots
pic.twitter.com/vcgI7sIl7a https://t.co/6ZM3xsOF0I
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) July 25, 2021
I heard they trained this robot by using thousands of hours of Ben Simmons footage and programming it to do the exact opposite pic.twitter.com/ncFR4VAmIu
— Prasant Lokinendi (@psantloki) July 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/5DejounteKnicks/status/1419667147341582339?s=20
People really created a robot that can hit threes consistently before Ben Simmons learned how to do it. https://t.co/4rftNcXuvK
— Calvin Chappell (@CHALVIN2018) July 25, 2021
Robot to Ben Simmons pic.twitter.com/77fT3xsoSJ
— Derek Kudjer (@koojababy) July 25, 2021
Too…many…Ben…Simmons…jokes…overload. Read that in a robot voice and it’s solid work. https://t.co/2qSGPE4pYI
— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) July 25, 2021
I would take to Twitter to stick up for Ben Simmons, but he’s from Australia, so this is not my sword to die on, mate.