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Add The New York Post on Google A top executive at an AI startup accused Wired of turning an exclusive on the company’s $20,000 humanoid robot into a story about “sexualizing robotics” — saying he felt “pretty betrayed” by the magazine’s coverage.
“I gave Wired the exclusive on our hands launch, and they wrote a really weird article about how we are sexualizing robotics,” Dar Sleeper, vice president of product and design at 1X, wrote on X over the weekend.
“I felt pretty betrayed because that’s not what they told me they were writing about nor is that what I’ve ever been about… actually I stand for quite the opposite.”
Sleeper also took aim at what he called click-driven journalism by the Condé Nast-owned publication.
“I’ve come to find a lot of dishonesty and malice in the journalism community so I wasn’t surprised,” he wrote, adding that journalism should “resist the click bait trap” and that the technological revolution unfolding in artificial intelligence “should inspire a journalism renaissance.”
1X’s Neo is a $20,000 humanoid household robot — or $500 a month through a subscription plan — that the startup says can perform chores such as cleaning, fetching items and other household tasks using AI-powered robotic hands that use tendon-like cables to mimic the movement and dexterity of a human hand.
Wired featured the robot and its newly unveiled five-finger hands in an exclusive published last week.
Boone Ashworth, the Wired journalist who wrote the story, argued that 1X’s promotional videos of Neo “feel very sensual,” describing scenes in which the robot’s fingers “curl around a wine glass, turn off a light, unzip a jacket, and gently fondle some grapes.”
He then quipped: “Not to kink shame, but this is a strange strategy for selling a robot…”
On X, Sleeper published what he said was the note he sent to the Wired reporter after the story appeared.
“[Author name redacted], it was nice talking to you, but I wanted to let you know that I didn’t enjoy your article at all,” Sleeper wrote.
“I understand the need to be inflammatory because that seems to be the only thing that gets clicks these days but that doesnt mean you shouldn’t recognize when something special is in front of you.”
He added that he regretted giving Wired the exclusive.
“I trusted our PR team in saying we should offer you the exclusive on what is one of the most important technological developments in the history of Mankind and I deeply regret it,” Sleeper wrote before signing off, “Good luck with the rest of your writing career.”
The Post has sought comment from Condé Nast.