THE CHASERS ROAD TRIP: TRAINS, BRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
ITV, 9pm
IS THE human race about to be overtaken by robots?
Chasers Anne Hegerty, Shaun Wallace and Mark Labbett have been sent to Japan to find out, encountering some of the world’s cleverest computers and the latest in AI.
Mark is excited: “I know there
are a lot of wonderful things and I’m hoping something will really impress me!”
But Shaun has grave concerns. He says: “I don’t want to be a harbinger of doom, but for me the film Terminator is very, very real and robots could become self aware and take over.”
Arriving at their hotel, they are checked in by robots at the world’s first fully robotic hotel.
“That’s extremely creepy,” says Anne, who won’t even use self-service checkouts in a supermarket “because they’re thick”.
On their travels they experience everything from living pet robots, to a self-solving puzzle cube and facial recognition technology.
Their reactions range from awe-struck to terrified and just plain irritated.