Stephen Colbert is terrified of our future black lesbian robot overlords


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
To celebrate this week's big breakthrough in artificial intelligence — a chatbot posing as a 13-year-old passed the Turing Test — Stephen Colbert freaked out about the imminent subjugation of humanity by our cyborg overlord, with a hefty dose of minority resentment. Specifically, Colbert dedicated a good part of Tuesday night's Colbert Report to the under-covered push for human rights for humanoid robots — an idea being seriously promoted by billionaire Sirius satellite radio inventor Martine Rothblatt.
Colbert traveled to Lincoln, Vermont, to visit Rothblatt and her bodiless android creation, Bina — a (literal) talking head she created in the image of her wife, Bina Aspen Rothblatt. The Rothblatts want to upload human thoughts, memories, and beliefs into android bodies, and Colbert took mock umbrage at Martine's choice of model: "We've always known that robots are soulless killing machines, but now they come fully uploaded with centuries of minority rage and resentment." Absurdist fearmongering at its finest. Let's hope nobody takes Colbert seriously. --Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Today's political cartoons — September 30, 2023
Saturday's cartoons - Trump's poll numbers, the Hunter Biden investigation, and more
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 30, 2023
Daily Briefing Government shutdown looms after failed House vote, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90, and more
By Justin Klawans Published
-
All about Zealandia, the Earth’s potential 8th continent
The Explainer The secret continent went undiscovered for over 300 years
By Devika Rao Published
-
NYPD to monitor Labor Day parties using surveillance drones
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Is the era of robotaxis over before it ever really started?
Talking Point As the nascent self-driving ride service industry gears up to expand beyond San Francisco, some tech and transportation experts say it's time to pump the breaks
By Rafi Schwartz Published
-
Elon Musk announces change to Twitter logo
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Twitter has reportedly threatened to sue Meta over Threads
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
Judge limits how Biden officials can communicate with social media companies
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Meta to block news access for Facebook and Instagram users in Canada
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Russian hackers allegedly breach US government agencies in cyberattack
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Popular Reddit forums go dark in protest of new developer fees
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published