So… the 1X NEO home robot is not actually autonomous. Behind the scenes, it’ll often be teleoperated by humans, meaning someone, somewhere, could literally remote-control a robot inside your living room. I wanted the dawn of embodied AI. Instead, I’m apparently paying $499/month for a robot avatar with a human pilot. It’s impressive tech. But also… kind of dystopian? A robot that looks alive, yet secretly puppeteered, the uncanny valley just got a new basement level. Feels less like the “post-labor future,” and more like we just outsourced physical presence itself.