AI assistants have an image problem: chatbots and virtual assistants like ChatGPT and Copilot may have their uses, but there is something cold and unforgiving about flashing cursors and text responses. Surely we could personalize them a bit and soften their hard, robotic edge?

For example, what if we put them inside a cute stuffed koala?

Wait. Not like this.

Reddit user Spiritual_Aside_7859 has created a plush koala that is powered by a Raspberry Pi and is ChatGPT compatible (via Tom's Hardware). If you think this is adorable, wait until you see it in action.

This project uses a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino Uno R4 together to interface ChatGPT with on-board hardware. This includes an ultrasonic sensor to detect when an object is nearby and to recognize when someone is in the room.

Combine this with a mini OLED monitor for "suspicious glances" stuffed into a koala's eye socket, and what you have here is less a cute companion and more something that might follow you down the hallway in the middle of the night. [Spiritual_Aside_7859 has received suggestions on how the entire project could be improved.

The current future plans for the descaler, or ambitious project, include improved voice recognition and the addition of a mouth display. Worryingly, according to Spiritual_Aside_7859, the bear already has a form of speech recognition integration, but it seems to have only been heard twice.

Either a buggy implementation or feigned ignorance to induce a false sense of security.

This horrible junk head movement and the bear's determination to appear both curious and disapproving of humans makes what is created here seem more like something designed to scare small children than an ingenious mix of AI and robotics. It seems. And to terrify adults.

At this point, we can only hope that the bear will never be able to move properly. Because I have a feeling that this project is a long way from integrating the rumba, something that will haunt my dreams for some time to come.