Lay’s Has Created An AI-Bot That Will Turn On The Subtitles While You Snack

We're talking about an AI-bot in the form of a Chrome extension that can detect munching sounds.

Here's a fun AI-bot. The coronavirus pandemic and work-from-home/study-from-home have given most of us some extra time out of our daily routines for YouTube binging and endless snacking. But snacking on crunchy munchies makes it difficult to hear the audio. The solution for that until now was either pausing the video to finish snacking or keeping the food aside. But that's no fun. But now, there is a Chrome extension that will automatically turn on YouTube subtitles when it detects the crunching sound, by Lay's.

Designed Bliss Interactive, a Vietnam-based design studio, and Happiness Saigon, the ad agency that represents Lay's. Lay's has seen sales of its products surge while millions of people were quarantined at home, fighting COVID-19 and while not being able to hear is not the world's biggest problem, it is a convenience if there's a solution to it.

According to the designers, the extension was created by recording 178 hours of people from around the world munching on potato chips, and that data was used to train an artificial intelligence program using machine learning techniques. When the extension is installed and given access to a Chrome tab that has a YouTube video playing, the extension will automatically turn the subtitles/close captioning (CC) on if available. That means, no more reaching for the keypad or a mouse with greasy hands.

While there's a good thought behind the Chrome extension, the AI bot will only work if your device's microphone picks up the crunching sound when you snack. You don't have to chew too loud for that. Just don't be far away from the device and expect it to work.

This kind of AI bot is definitely a step forward for technology. It aims to solve a common problem and eases one small aspect of our lives. Some might say that giving an extension access to the microphone is intrusive, but with technology, you have to pick your side. The extension is called Lay's Crispy Subtitles and it's up for downloads on the Chrome Web Store.