Really fantastic artefact here Helen! It was very clever to mimic an advert, and I couldn’t help but think of relations to fake news here too!

I thought Cathy’s point about helplessly referring to Betty as a she was interesting. It made me wonder if your gender choice was intentional? There is a link here with an old fashioned or stereotypical view of nursing, but it might also say something about societal views of service. I was also reminded of ‘Gumdrop’, and how accepting we seemed to find ‘her’ – perhaps a conscious choice for a company wishing to market an A.I.

There was also something distinctly frightening and dystopian about a robot that could signal the presence of airborne viruses – thinking here of much more deadly ones that the common cold – yet not be affected by them. Was this a comment on A.I.s ability to outlast our human weaknesses?

I also wondered about the title ‘Betty sneezes’. In the advert it only suggests that Betty turns red? So what about the sneezing? Was that perhaps a hint that Betty might develop the ability to *catch* a cold ‘herself’? 🙂

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