"Sarah's Right. Kids Need Humans."

 

I've been watching old Scooby Doo episodes on and off for the last few days because I'm a grown man who can watch what he wants to, dammit.

I remember this episode with the "kooky Martian" who makes the weird Jetsons computer noises when he walks. But I had no idea how prescient this episode would be in the whole artificial intelligence debate.

Of course, robots then, robots now.

Not to spoil the ending, but as this is a Scooby Doo cartoon you already know one of the characters introduced at the beginning is responsible for the shenanigans: The caretaker invented Charlie, the "perfect robot" to take on all the jobs at the fair, but his spinster sister made Charlie go haywire because she believed that artificial intelligence shouldn't be working around kids.

A bit simplistic, yes. But when I see my college students use large language models to write their essays for them, I have to echo her cranky, Luddite sentiment. Daphne gets the money line: "Sarah's right. Kids need humans."

I *do* like that Velma is behind the wheel of the electromagnet Jeep.

And I love that Sarah says roh-butt, just like Zoidberg.