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For the past few years the whole world has only been talking about the fact that artificial intelligence is about to, if not destroy all of humanity, either enslave us or deprive us of most of our jobs. After all, computers and neural networks think better and faster, do not forget anything, and learn at a speed that is completely incomprehensible to any living person.
And yet, we believe that these concerns are somewhat premature. If humanity itself is engaged in the matter of its own destruction with varying success, then you should not be afraid that tomorrow you will be fired by your employer in order to hire a neural network. Well, for now. Yes, artificial intelligence can create a work of art that will surpass a human in an art contest, but as far as running a business with bots, the success of artificial brains is still quite modest.
Just read this thread on Twitter, which started with a tweet from user @ask_aubry and has amassed over 406.9K likes and around 35.6K retweets as of today. It all started with the post author’s simple desire to make some purchases online – and continued with a completely enchanting thread, where human genius triumphs over computer.
More info: Twitter
Image credits: ask_aubry
So, the Original Poster, in the process of purchasing, ordered tampons from the Walmart online store. Apparently the item they wanted wasn’t in stock, so the store’s search engine did their own research into the OP’s needs, analyzed the prices… and offered a full container of mushrooms in return for the same price as tampons!
Image credits: ask_aubry
We must say that the OP had never thought that mushrooms could at least to some extent become a substitute for hygiene products, so the proposed option, of course, was rejected. But not before taking a screenshot of this amazing idea and tweeting: “Hi Walmart, I don’t think mushrooms will work.”
Image credits: vihimnga
Image credits: larryburb
Image credits: larryburb
The resulting thread instantly went viral, and it turned out that many people around the world had, at least once, been faced with the amazing “inventiveness” of online stores’ search recommendations. For example, for one Instacart user, cucumber Vagisil was once offered as a replacement for English cucumber. By the way, AI, as netizens have noticed, likes to swap food and various hygiene products in this way.
Image credits: HikesWithDogs00
Image credits: MaidelK
Image credits: BradfemlyWalsh
Want more examples? Voila! One British supermarket once came up with an idea to substitute Peri Peri sauce for sanitary towels. And another user had been constantly offered a block of cheddar cheese – and if it was still possible to somehow withstand it instead of chocolate cake, then cheese would certainly not work as a replacement for hygiene pads.
Image credits: Real_rpnzel
Image credits: MichaelAHiener
Jeff Bezos has repeatedly spoken about the AI’s phantom menace to humanity, but Amazon’s recommendations are also very “impressive”. For example, one of the discussion participants was suggested by the system’s suggestion to add a foldable solar panel to their cart after buying a package of socks. Well, we certainly support the idea of clean energy, but how does a solar panel fit with socks?
Image credits: BexiParsons
Image credits: MkdDebbie
Image credits: AnaidUthMatar
Image credits: Mike Mozart
However, as for the Original Poster and their mushrooms, everything here is far from being as simple, as users joke. For example, mushrooms have many advantages over tampons, like they are 100% organic and decomposable. In addition, netizens gave several examples of how mushrooms were great at absorbing liquid. It seems that AI seriously cares about the environment…
Image credits: VespachickPDX
Image credits: RomanAcleaf
Image credits: EsqGranny
And yet, the pinnacle of online commercial systems’ incompetence, according to many people in the comments, was the proposal to replace cheese with a dozen eggs as the netizen’s family was about to make tacos. Yes, it seems that if artificial intelligence replaces living people in business, it would be not in the near future.
Image credits: Swilua
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Image credits: eileenredmond90
If you have also faced funny and non-standard offers to replace missing items while shopping online, please feel free to tell your own story. In the meantime, you can read more of this tale of ours – there is no AI, but there are cheese and tacos! And, of course, please do not forget to write comments, because they are so pleasant for every living person!
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Oleg has master's degree in Economics he got long time ago in a city far, far away. Oleg also worked as a university teacher, sports writer and a BDSM* specialist for several IT companies.
After six years of making pub quizzez in Ukraine, Oleg joined Bored Panda team as a content creator. This panda (Pun? Duh!) is also a huge sports fan, being happy as a longtime member of WeDemBoys Community and Boston Celtics Nation as well.
During his downtime from work and parenting with three kids (twin daughters and a baby son), Oleg enjoys reading JKR, JRRT, GRRM and other respective abbreviations. Also interested in history and graphic design (and the history of graphic design too)…
Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.
I’m still trying to process someone cleaning mushrooms with soapy water.
I’m imagining the commenter was very young at the time? I hope? ?
It did say “the first time I bought mushrooms” so I’m guessing maybe they learned after that and haven’t continued to do so 🙂
This is just a public service announcement: Mushrooms are not absorbent. They are not little sponges. When you cook them, they produce a lot of liquid. Of course they are not a substitute for a tampon, but the misconception that they are dry and absorbent is very common, especially in cooking. Mushrooms will NOT thicken a sauce, they will make it watery.
Amazon Prime does this too with it’s Morrisons Grocery shopping. I always opt for no substitutes since instead of Cat Biscuits I was delivered a loaf of bread 😀
I was being silly and decided to look for pimp cups for drinks. A whole bunch of gold goblets and all sorts or glasses came up and then every few items was breast pumps.
lmao
I mean a breast is the pimpest cup of all xD
Me too. Wasn’t quite as bad as that though, washing up liquid substituted with shampoo, but still!
that makes sense lol, but if you look when ordering you can see what substitutes they can send , some of them are not at all similar :d
I’m still trying to process someone cleaning mushrooms with soapy water.
I’m imagining the commenter was very young at the time? I hope? ?
It did say “the first time I bought mushrooms” so I’m guessing maybe they learned after that and haven’t continued to do so 🙂
This is just a public service announcement: Mushrooms are not absorbent. They are not little sponges. When you cook them, they produce a lot of liquid. Of course they are not a substitute for a tampon, but the misconception that they are dry and absorbent is very common, especially in cooking. Mushrooms will NOT thicken a sauce, they will make it watery.
Amazon Prime does this too with it’s Morrisons Grocery shopping. I always opt for no substitutes since instead of Cat Biscuits I was delivered a loaf of bread 😀
I was being silly and decided to look for pimp cups for drinks. A whole bunch of gold goblets and all sorts or glasses came up and then every few items was breast pumps.
lmao
I mean a breast is the pimpest cup of all xD
Me too. Wasn’t quite as bad as that though, washing up liquid substituted with shampoo, but still!
that makes sense lol, but if you look when ordering you can see what substitutes they can send , some of them are not at all similar :d
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