Google’s new Clips camera has managed to draw fresh criticism from none other than Elon Musk. More specifically, the well-known tech innovator and long-term proponent of the rapid advance of A.I. technologies responded directly to at least one Twitter post regarding the new device, to say that the camera “doesn’t even seem innocent.” His response uses asterisks to put the emphasis on the word seem, which could be taken to be an implication that he doesn’t believe Google when the company says that Clips will not transfer any photos or videos off of the device itself until the user initiates that move.
Of course, it is worth noting that Musk doesn’t provide any reason for suspecting that Google is lying and has repeatedly knocked A.I. systems as the single greatest current threat to the future of mankind. However, he has also been outspoken about more general security risks posed by the technology itself from time to time. So that isn’t necessarily what is being implied through the tweet. Instead, it may just be that he doesn’t trust the A.I. built into Clips for whatever reason. Beyond that, Musk could also simply be trying to say that he is wary as to whether or not there are any unforeseen exploits within the programming of Clips that could result in security breaches. The current limit on the social platform of 140 characters per tweet hasn’t really left a lot of room for Musk to expand further about exactly what he meant by his post.
By way of a reminder for anybody who may still be unaware of Google’s latest photo taking innovation, Google Clips is being marketed as a small, mountable camera that automatically captures life’s moments in both video and photo formats. It accomplishes that by including A.I., in combination with computer vision and machine learning, to figure out which people and events to capture. With the reveal of the device, and aside from stating that Clips will not back up or move any media it captures without permission, Google also pointed to the inclusion of an indicator LED to let anybody who happens to be hanging know around that Clips is recording. With that said, whether Musk’s negativity about Clips turns out to be based in reality or not, remains to be seen.
