Super Bowl Commercial Robot Takeover!

Yawwwwwn.

Even as a #NewEnglandPatriots fan, that was hard to watch. If you were able to pull your groggy head off the sofa after the first ten minutes, you may have noticed a new theme between timeouts this year...a bunch of androids sucking up millions of dollars of airtime.

The hype, anticipation and production of Super Bowl commercials is deafening. It should be considering the cost. According to CNBC, a 30-second spot rang in at a whopping $5.25 million dollars. Considering all the punts, that's a lot of dinero for host #CBS. Congrats.

From #MichelobULTRA's super-athletes that can't enjoy the afterparty to the hilarious #Amazon Alexa devices that "didn't make the cut", artificial intelligence accounted for at least $30M of that revenue (this is unofficial...I may have dozed off a few times as well).

It was the tear-jerking TurboTax "RoboChild" who will "never be emotionally complex enough for that job" that really got me. Not because #RoboChild has a slightly disturbing face from the Cabbage Patch with the body of a mini-Terminator - being a father of two, I'm sappy about my kiddos, but this thing will haunt my dreams until pitchers and catchers report (that's February 12-13, fellow "seam heads"). The fear is real, and I'm not alone...check out the comments on YouTube.

No, it was the genius of the marketing team that created this robot-tot that instantly became my satellite messenger to America. I felt the brilliance behind the service SiteStaff provides was illuminated on a world stage. The fact of the matter is that, when it comes to matters of the heart, there is no substitute for a human being.

Our team is recruited and hired for empathy, which we crave as humans. According to Dr. Judith Orloff, there are three unique phenomena we possess - mirror neurons, electromagnetic fields and emotional contagion - that allow us to feel and express empathy. We've found that expressing genuine empathy during very real conversations surrounding personal pain allow us to create emotional connections. Not only does this allow us to make the best first impressions about our clients' cultures of care, but these connections truly influence buying decisions.

To be fair to the scientists and FIRST Robotics competitors, AI is being trained the verbiage of empathy, and there are amazing applications for companion robots for those suffering from dementia, developed right here at the University of Denver. When the disease affects short-term memory, a robot doesn't judge when their companion keeps asking the same question over and over. This is truly remarkable technology put to great use, and as a servant of the senior living industry, I applaud their innovative efforts.

But what does that mean to you? You're reading this on some form of computing device, so chances are, you're a savvy web consumer. Could you determine if you were conversing with a human or AI? An even bigger question...would you be offended or feel duped if you found that you were spilling your heart to a robot? I'm but a man, but I think I can predict your answer.

At least for now, I think it's fair to maintain that we humans have the upper hand. Let's delay Judgement Day as long as we can.

Congrats to Belichick and the G.O.A.T.!