\n<\/p>\n
A couple of Thursdays ago, I awoke at nearly 4:30 a.m. to a\u00a0dizzying Instagram DM.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rizzbot, a\u00a0popular humanoid\u00a0robot\u00a0with more than\u00a01 million TikTok followers<\/a>\u00a0and more\u00a0than\u00a0half a million followers<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram, had sent me a photo: he was flipping me off.\u00a0<\/p>\n No words.\u00a0No\u00a0explanation.\u00a0Just a robot with its middle finger raised.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although I was shocked, a sinking feeling meant that I\u00a0could guess why.\u00a0A few weeks ago,\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0\u2014 or the person who runs the account \u2014 and I chatted about a\u00a0possible\u00a0story. I\u00a0found the account\u00a0interesting: a\u00a0humanoid\u00a0walking the streets of Austin wearing Nike dunks and a cowboy hat.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0known for\u00a0roasting, but also\u00a0flirting\u00a0and having\u00a0a good time.\u00a0The name Rizz comes from the\u00a0Gen\u00a0Z slang word\u00a0rizz\u00a0<\/em>for charisma.\u00a0<\/p>\n I was intrigued by the rising popularity of the account.\u00a0People\u00a0are\u00a0usually\u00a0uncomfortable\u00a0with humanoids. There are privacy concerns and job displacement fears. Online, people sling slurs at\u00a0them, most notably calling them \u201cclankers.\u201d\u00a0In the robotics world,\u00a0meanwhile,\u00a0experts\u00a0are\u00a0debating\u00a0what they will be best suited to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u00a0saw\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0as a role model making people feel comfortable interacting with\u00a0a humanoid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizzbot\u00a0agreed to an interview, so\u00a0I started reaching\u00a0out to experts to discuss the future of humanoids in preparation for a story. Two weeks after my\u00a0initial\u00a0DM\u00a0with\u00a0Rizzbot, I told it I would finally send\u00a0it some interview\u00a0questions\u00a0on\u00a0the following\u00a0Monday or Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> But life happened, and I missed my own deadline. I\u00a0was finally\u00a0prepared to\u00a0send\u00a0the questions\u00a0first thing\u00a0Thursday\u00a0a.m.,\u00a0and\u00a0I thought, No big deal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Too late.\u00a0In the wee hours\u00a0that night,\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0sent that photo.\u00a0Message clear: You broke your word, so\u00a0eff\u00a0off.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0give up.\u00a0I\u00a0apologized\u00a0to the robot (or to its human?)\u00a0for the\u00a0delay\u00a0and\u00a0promised I would send the questions\u00a0first thing during office hours.\u00a0But\u00a0when\u00a0I tried a few hours later,\u00a0I\u00a0was\u00a0met with \u201cuser not found.\u201d <\/p>\n The robot had blocked me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n My friends thought it was\u00a0hilarious\u00a0that I was\u00a0flipped off and\u00a0blocked by\u00a0Rizzbot,\u00a0since for weeks,\u00a0all\u00a0I spoke about was how excited I was to do this story.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLOL\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0roasted you,\u201d one friend texted me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYOU ARE BEEFING WITH A ROBOT\u00a0LOLOLOL,\u201d another\u00a0said. I\u00a0reached out\u00a0to\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0on\u00a0TikTok, a move\u00a0one\u00a0friend called desperate.\u00a0But what\u00a0else could\u00a0I do?\u00a0I had pitched the story to my editor, spent hours researching, and \u2014 despite this beef \u2014\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0would still be\u00a0interesting\u00a0to TechCrunch\u2019s tech-loving readers.\u00a0<\/p>\n While my friends were laughing, I\u00a0entered\u00a0a state of gloom.\u00a0Not only was my story dead, but I was also now the girl who got blocked by a dancing robot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n My\u00a0colleague\u00a0Amanda\u00a0Silberling<\/a>\u00a0offered to help me. She\u00a0reached out to\u00a0the\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0account to\u00a0ask why I was blocked.\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0gave a curt response:\u00a0\u201cRizzbot\u00a0blocks like he rizzes \u2014 smooth, confident, and with zero remorse.\u201d\u00a0It then sent her the same middle finger\u00a0photo it sent me.\u00a0I\u00a0thought,\u00a0\u201cWow,\u00a0I\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0even special enough for a\u00a0unique flip\u00a0off.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n But then, one\u00a0friend\u00a0offered a terrifying thought I\u00a0hadn\u2019t\u00a0even considered.\u00a0\u201cIt\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0a human response.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0scared for you.\u201d\u00a0It seems I\u00a0had already made my first robot enemy, and the AI revolution has only just begun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Or did I?\u00a0Was\u00a0I really\u00a0beefing with\u00a0a human?\u00a0<\/p>\n I found out that\u00a0Rizzbot\u2019s\u00a0name is actually Jake the\u00a0Robot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Its owner is an\u00a0anonymous YouTuber\u00a0and biochemist,\u00a0according to reports<\/a>. The robot itself is\u00a0a\u00a0standard\u00a0Unitree\u00a0G1 Model<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0anyone can buy one<\/a> for\u00a0$16,000 to over $70,000.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizzbot\u00a0was\u00a0trained by Kyle\u00a0Morgenstein<\/a>,\u00a0a PhD student at UT Austin\u2019s robotic laboratory.\u00a0He\u00a0worked alongside a\u00a0team for around three\u00a0weeks,\u00a0teaching\u00a0the robot how to dance and move limbs.\u00a0While much of the robot\u2019s behavior is pre-programmed,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0operated\u00a0by a remote control, with\u00a0its\u00a0true owner,\u00a0apparently not\u00a0Morgenstein,\u00a0nearby\u00a0commanding it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If I had to guess how the tech behind the robot works \u2014 after talking with\u00a0Malte F. Jung, an associate professor at Cornell University who studied information sciences\u00a0\u2014 someone triggers the\u00a0robot\u2019s\u00a0behaviors, and a picture is taken of whoever is interacting with the robot, run through ChatGPT or some other LLM,\u00a0and\u00a0a text-to-speech function is\u00a0then\u00a0used to roast\u00a0or flirt with\u00a0the person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe robot turns the script\u00a0around of\u00a0people abusing robots,\u201d Jung told me. \u201cNow the robot gets to abuse people. The product here is the\u00a0performance.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Morgenstein\u00a0told other outlets that the actual owner of\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0just likes to entertain people, likes to show the joy that humanoids are capable of bringing.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s\u00a0unclear who runs the\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0social accounts, though when\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0sent\u00a0that photo to\u00a0Silberling, it also sent an error message\u00a0\u2014\u00a0probably\u00a0an\u00a0accident \u2014\u00a0about being out of GPU memory. The message\u00a0indicated\u00a0that\u00a0an AI agent\u00a0is probably\u00a0involved in running that\u00a0account and\u00a0is\u00a0maybe auto-generating\u00a0DM responses.\u00a0It also\u00a0indicated\u00a0that\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0only has 48GB of memory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat makes you confident it was ever a person?\u201d\u00a0my\u00a0coder friend asked me\u00a0about the Instagram account manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the age of AI,\u00a0someone capable of training a\u00a0robot\u00a0is\u00a0likely capable\u00a0of connecting an\u00a0LLM to Instagram DMs.\u00a0My block\u00a0could\u00a0even\u00a0have been\u00a0a\u00a0fail-safe,\u00a0my coder friend said,\u00a0meaning I automatically triggered it myself\u00a0by\u00a0DM\u2019ing\u00a0in the early hours \u2014 even if it was a reply.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But there are some clues that a human\u00a0is involved\u00a0in running\u00a0Rizzbot\u2019s\u00a0social media:\u00a0There were typos in\u00a0its\u00a0initial\u00a0DM\u00a0reply\u00a0to me when I\u00a0first\u00a0asked for an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still,\u00a0unless\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0tells me\u00a0if his social media manager is another bot\u00a0(which seems unlikely given our beef),\u00a0I\u00a0will\u00a0likely\u00a0never\u00a0know.\u00a0Maybe it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf they got $50,000 for a bot and\u00a0a couple thousand for a 48GB memory machine, I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0put anything past \u2018em,\u201d my\u00a0coder friend\u00a0pointed out. \u201cThey\u2019re clearly committed to the bit.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rizzbot\u2019s\u00a0TikTok\u00a0page alone\u00a0has racked up\u00a0more than 45\u00a0million\u00a0views.\u00a0One video shows\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0chasing people in the streets, while another sees it running into a pole and falling in the middle of the street.\u00a0A viral video,\u00a0presumably\u00a0altered\u00a0by AI,\u00a0shows\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0being run over by a car.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems hilarious, honestly,\u201d one founder friend told me, calling the viral videos \u201crobot brain rot.\u201d He said the AI is rudimentary, but the robot\u2019s premise is a \u201cfunny intermingling\u201d of internet dank \u2014 or absurdist \u2014 humor, and the lightheartedness that much of social media is missing these days. \u201cIt interacts with people in a novel way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n My\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0rabbit hole still had me thinking, though, about the role of humanoids in our society.\u00a0Every\u00a0sci-fi\u00a0movie\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever watched \u2014 from\u00a0\u201cBlade Runner\u201d\u00a0to\u00a0\u201cI, Robot\u201d\u00a0came flooding back to me.\u00a0How scared should I be now that\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0made my first humanoid enemy?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPerformance seems to be really\u00a0the\u00a0big use case for these kinds of robots,\u201d Jung\u00a0told me, adding that\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0was\u00a0\u201clike a modern version of street performance with a hand puppet.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOften, hand puppets are snarky,\u201d he continued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from\u00a0Rizzbot, he mentioned the Spring Festival performance in China, where humanoids\u00a0performed\u00a0folk dance\u00a0alongside humans<\/a>,\u00a0and in San Francisco, meanwhile, people head\u00a0to the boxing ring<\/a>\u00a0to watch robots exchange jabs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRobots will become the primary mass market entertainers, show performers, dancers, singers, comedians, and companions,\u201d Dima\u00a0Gazda, the founder of the robotics company\u00a0Esper\u00a0Bionics, told me, adding that humans will become niche, top talent. \u201cAs robots gain grace and emotional intelligence, they\u2019ll blend into performances and interactive experiences better than humans.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Luckily,\u00a0right now,\u00a0dancing robots seem hard to scale\u00a0en masse, according to\u00a0Jen\u00a0Apicella, executive director at the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.\u00a0So\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have to worry about\u00a0this beef escalating to, say,\u00a0a legion of dancing, rizzing robots\u00a0physically showing up\u00a0at my doorstep. Not that such a thought crossed my mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s\u00a0now been\u00a0over\u00a0a week\u00a0since\u00a0I was blocked,\u00a0and I find myself reminiscing on the joy I found watching\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0chase people in the streets.\u00a0My\u00a0favorite\u00a0video showed\u00a0a\u00a0woman twerking on\u00a0Rizzbot.\u00a0A\u00a0crowd formed around the spectacle; people seemed genuinely entertained, itching, perhaps, for\u00a0their\u00a0own\u00a0moment to twerk on a robot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I always\u00a0joked to my friends that\u00a0I\u00a0wanted to keep\u00a0robots on my side in case the revolution\u00a0came.\u00a0But even as I\u00a0wrote\u00a0this\u00a0article,\u00a0I\u00a0found myself\u00a0almost\u00a0in\u00a0another AI beef \u2014 this time with Meta AI, which I had never\u00a0used before.\u00a0I\u00a0accidentally started a conversation with Meta AI while looking for my old conversations with\u00a0Rizzbot\u00a0on\u00a0Instagram.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s\u00a0bot\u00a0replied, \u201cYoo, what\u2019s good fam? You\u00a0callin\u2019\u00a0me\u00a0Rizzbot?\u00a0\ud83e\udd23\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0poppin\u2019?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u00a0decided it was time to log off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nDid I trigger\u00a0a fail-safe?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s still robot brain rot\u00a0<\/h2>\n