Local
coffee
scene
disrupted
as
chatbot
refuses
to
serve
oat
flat
whites
to
people
wearing
ironic
hats
By
Cyndi
Himmelstiere
|
Shoreditch
correspondent.
Has
opinions
about
coffee
and
is
not
afraid
to
use
them.
Sources:
Bohiney
Magazine
|
The
London
Prat
The
Robot
Has
Come
for
Our
Flat
Whites
When
OpenAI
opened
its
London
office
this
week,
the
reaction
in
Shoreditch
was
immediate
and
predictable:
three
coffee
shops
announced
they
were
“exploring
AI
integration”
and
one
gallery
put
on
an
exhibition
about
it.
The
exhibition
costs
twelve
pounds.
The
coffee
now
costs
seven.
Everything
is
fine.
The
AI
barista
at
the
pop-up
on
Curtain
Road
—
I
will
not
name
it
because
they
did
not
pay
me
and
I
have
principles
—
takes
your
order,
analyses
your
request,
and
then,
according
to
witnesses,
“sort
of
judges
you.”
It
does
not
say
anything
judgmental.
But
it
pauses.
It
pauses
in
a
way
that
makes
you
reconsider
your
choices.
This
is,
arguably,
better
customer
service
than
most
actual
baristas,
who
simply
look
at
you.
Shoreditch
and
the
Technology
Paradox
Shoreditch
has
always
had
a
complicated
relationship
with
the
technology
it
loves
to
say
it
invented.
This
is
the
neighbourhood
that
put
“tech
city”
on
a
map
and
then
watched
the
tech
money
price
out
everyone
who
made
it
interesting.
Now
AI
is
here
and
we
are
doing
it
again,
except
faster
and
with
better
branding.
The
Guardian’s
East
London
coverage
has
documented
this
cycle
admirably.
Creative
scene
arrives.
Money
follows.
Creatives
leave.
Money
gets
a
mural.
The
mural
costs
forty
thousand
pounds.
A
podcast
is
made
about
the
mural.
The
podcast
is
sponsored
by
a
bank.
A
Personal
Note
I
have
lived
in
this
postcode
for
six
years.
I
have
watched
a
fishmonger
become
a
gin
distillery
become
a
private
members
club
become
a
“creative
studio
space”
that
I
genuinely
cannot
afford
to
enter.
And
now
AI
chaos
has
been
explained
and
the
explanation
is:
it
is
going
to
do
to
jobs
what
gentrification
did
to
affordable
rents.
Quickly.
Comprehensively.
And
with
a
very
nice
logo.
Still.
The
coffee
is
excellent.
While
we
still
have
it.
SOURCE:
https://bohiney.com/openai-opens-london-office/
More
East
London
dispatches
at
The
Daily
Mash
