Prince William awkwardly cracked some ‘jokes’ about AI replacing racecar drivers

When Prince Harry arrived in Ukraine on Thursday, the deranged commentary quickly centered on “how dare Harry travel to an important Ukrainian security conference on his nephew’s eighth birthday, April 23rd belongs solely to Prince Louis!!” Hours later, those same people said nothing when Louis’s father stepped out solo to watch fast cars go vroom-vroom at Jaguar’s TCS Racing headquarters. Whoopsie! How dare Prince William overshadow his son’s birthday!! Notably, the side-by-side was stark for William – the heir to the throne doing random busywork involving racecars, while his exiled and maligned statesman-brother was meeting military officials and politicians on the frontline of a four-year-plus European war. Well, it gets even worse for the Scooter King Who Wasn’t There. William also thought it would be funny to make awkward AI jokes.

The Prince of Wales has joked about AI taking over jobs in motor racing as he got into the driving seat of Jaguar’s Formula E race car.

Prince William, 43, quipped that ‘AI drivers’ might eventually be ‘much quicker’ as he was treated to a full tour of Jaguar TCS Racing’s headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

The 6ft 3 heir to the throne, who towers over the typical race car driver, sat with his head above ‘the halo’ in Jaguar’s I-TYPE 7 model on Thursday, the day of his youngest son’s birthday. He said during the visit that his three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, who turned eight today, were ‘so excited’ about their father’s tour of Jaguar racing HQ, adding that they ‘love’ the sport.

But speaking with graduates and interns working in the Oxfordshire complex, William warned that we ‘are probably not far off’ the moment that drivers could get replaced by technology one day.

He said: ‘I was joking with the team that with all the advancements in technology and everything, at what point does the driver become a weak link? Imagine you turn around and just say “let’s just get rid of the driver, we’ll put in an AI person and it’ll do it itself much quicker”. We’re probably not far off that moment are we – not that we should be going down that route obviously. But you guys are fractions of seconds, a tiny little gauge you’re trying to gain and get everything, it’s incredible.’

He added: ‘It is incredible what you’re doing, it really is. It’s really exciting. And I’m so glad the sport’s moved from those few years when it started trying to work out what it’s going to do, to where it is now. It’s a hell of a leap you guys have made and I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do in the next 10 years.’

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s funny, I was joking with CB about all of the advancements in technology and everything, at what point does the heir to the throne become a weak link? Imagine you turn around and just say “let’s just get rid of the heir, we’ll put in an AI person and it’ll do it itself much quicker.” Sorry, that’s where my mind went – William is looking forward to the day when he too can be replaced by AI. It will free him up even further to do f–k all. This is your heir, and this is what he has to say about one of the most significant issues in tech today – not a measured, thoughtful assessment about the dangers of AI, but a “joke” about replacing human racecar drivers. Incidentally, I believe that William and Kate have already been experimenting with AI for some of their public messages and photos. They’ve barely been called out on it, but people should be concerned.

Also – if William’s kids were so excited about racecars, why not bring them to this event? Louis couldn’t even see the racecars on his birthday??

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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33 Responses to “Prince William awkwardly cracked some ‘jokes’ about AI replacing racecar drivers”

  1. Inge says:

    So his kids love racing but he decides not to bring them, not even on his sons birthday?!

    And sure enough he also ‘jokes’ about people loosing theirjob

    Typical William, only thinking about himself.

    • ShazBot says:

      The kids were just on Easter break too- it could have been scheduled during that period so they don’t miss school.
      They really are just the lowest common denominator.

    • dwi says:

      that’s what i was thinking: the thought of losing jobs to AI isn’t funny. of course, he doesn’t have to have a job and actually go to work, so what does he care?
      it’s true that AI will eventually take over some jobs and that’s a scary thought for people who need to make a living.

    • BLACK ELDERBERRY says:

      Of course, he could have taken the children with him, but if he didn’t, why the hell did he even talk about them? Like everything about William, it’s a very awkward statement, because he admits the children love it (even though they don’t know it), yet he left them in one of his five homes.
      As a side note, I doubt anyone would ever take these children to a car race, but wherever William and Kate go, they ALWAYS talk about how THIS is their children’s passion – piano, motorcycles, carpentry, medicine, cooking… but they don’t take them anywhere… and the children learn about their passions from the media.

      • Becks1 says:

        That’s what stood out to me too. EVERY time they go somewhere they mention how their kids (or just one of them) loves whatever it is that they’re doing – here its racecars, but sometimes its trains, planes or automobiles. Sometimes its a specific sport. etc.

        If it was just once in a while it’d be cute, but its so predictable that you know they’re just saying it because THEY know that mentioning the kids will bring more attention on the event.

  2. Dee(2) says:

    His tendency to revert to banter because he doesn’t read briefings or educate himself is going to get him into worse situations as he becomes king. He’s already socially awkward but if he prepared and read briefings he could just ask four or five bullet point questions in the appropriate places and it would be a success.

    These visits are only 30 minutes to an hour long. Ask some basic personal questions, comment on the weather, let them speak, let them show you around, ask four questions in reasonable spots and let them answer those questions. Take photos, leave.

    The way that they somehow cannot do this job without screwing up and still managing not to be memorable is pretty astonishing. This was eyeroll worthy, but it won’t even really impact him because no one will remember he said it or visited here in a couple of weeks.

    • Amy Bee says:

      The average royal engagement lasts 30 minutes at most. Staying over time is 45 minutes not even an hour.

    • Jay says:

      “Reverting to banter” is a perfect description. And it’s not even good banter! This is clearly a man who has always surrounded himself with lackeys who tell him how interesting and funny he is and he obviously believes that.

      • Becks1 says:

        Yup. he thinks he’s hilarious and witty and brilliant and everything he says is just amazing and on point etc.

        And why wouldn’t he think that? I feel like there have only been two people in his life who have told him otherwise – his mother who obviously has been gone for almost 30 years now – and his brother, and William didn’t like that Harry would call him out for things.

  3. Hypocrisy says:

    The kids would have loved the race cars and maybe their comments and questions would not have been so insulting… in my mind I picture Willy in a “Dunce” cap a lot with the idiotic things that come out of his mouth.. nothing is more dangerous than a malignant narcissist who has no intelligence America is a good example of that right now.

  4. Miranda says:

    This could’ve been a great birthday treat for Louis, if he’s a racing fan. Of course, William and Kate do have a habit of claiming that the kids are fascinated by whatever activity is involved in every visit they make, because they’re incapable of making even the most basic small talk. There’s every chance that the kids don’t care about racing at all.

    Anyway, please tell us again how Harry is the stupid one. 🙄

  5. Me at home says:

    His kids love racing but he doesn’t bring them, not even Louis whose birthday it is. I get they’re back in school. But also, he could have done this visit after school was over (and maybe he did, I don’t know what time he went).

    This is giving “Kate has the kids this week, including Louis on his birthday.”

    • Gabby says:

      Usually in a divorce custody agreement or (whatever the heck these two have going on) there is some sort of special arrangement for the kids birthday so that both parents can see them.

    • Becks1 says:

      It reminds me of the time he went to an Aston Villa game on Charlotte’s birthday and took George.

  6. Sure says:

    Was the mother’s day photo AI manipulation or is Kaiser referring to other photos? If so, which ones?

    • Becks1 says:

      The mother’s day photo was absolutely manipulated in a very obvious way that people couldn’t ignore.

      But I think there have been others that have been edited, and I think some of the videos may have been edited as well. I’m not sure when editing or photoshopping becomes AI, but there is a quality to a lot of their videos and photos that makes it clear they’re not 100% accurate.

      in my nonprofessional opinion.

  7. Tessa says:

    He already went to a game on charlottes birthday and did not bring her with him.

  8. Tarte Au Citron says:

    Unemployment is hilarious for us plebs, Billy, yeah. LOLs galore.

    I don’t think fans want to watch avatars driving cars. Fans are invested in seeing if the new guy can knock off Verstappen from pole position, see how the new cars are performing.

    He did kind of row it back, but come on. Engineers don’t want to hear about how they could be automated out of a job.

    • Miranda says:

      Correction: fans are invested in seeing if the new guy, or anybody else, can knock Verstappen out of the race. No one who isn’t Dutch likes that little prick, lol. 🤣

      • Tarte Au Citron says:

        😄 He riles me up too!

      • Becks1 says:

        😢😢

        My almost 14 year old (omg how he is almost 14 lol) adores Verstappen. Definitely not Dutch lol. I’m not sure how he became a fan but all of a sudden in the last year…..its become a thing.

      • Miranda says:

        @Becks – *sigh* I hope you don’t blame yourself, I’m sure you’ve been an excellent parent. Accidents happen even in the best of families. 😂

      • Becks1 says:

        🤣🤣

        He IS a bandwagoner of a kid though. For example, for premier league soccer, the rest of us are tottenham fans. He’s a Man City fan and is digging out his jerseys now that Man City is winning the league again.

        For football and baseball though he’s loyal to his local teams. But otherwise he likes the winners, lol. We try to explain to him that’s not how fandom works and he’s all I DO WHAT I WANT lmao.

  9. Amy Bee says:

    William is supposed to be the smart one. He’s such a lightweight and is the thicko that the press says Harry is. How are you going to joke about AI taking these people’s jobs? And as I said yesterday why didn’t he take Louis to this engagement as a birthday outing?

  10. YankeeDoodles says:

    I know we joked about this before, and SNL did it to perfection, but, behold, another victim of Tourette’s. LOL. It’s like his brain leaps to the most offensive, insulting version of any given situation, in the face of the people most intimately involved, and gleefully kicks them in the face. He’s vicious. And empty-headed. If he were serious about anything at all, it would be so easy for him to be reliable and safely underwhelming. Instead, we get this: the man who must be paid attention, who yet paradoxically resents the people who owe it to him. Like an attention-seeking teenager who imagines people only exist to react to her. She’s dependent on their fawning, so ironically this gives them a certain amount of power over her, so she resents them all the more. I think he & Kate traded personalities at some point. What a study in codependent narcissism. Is that even a thing????

  11. Jay says:

    See, this is how you know that nobody in the UK government or BP gave William or his staff a heads up that Harry was going to travel to Ukraine and make a keynote address. There’s no way that Harry didn’t clear his visit through the relevant authorities just for safety’s sake, and though it’s not an official visit, Harry’s words align with the British message of supporting Ukraine and helping them defend Europe. I’ll eat my hat if Charles didn’t know this contrast was coming!

    But you can understand the logic – the Wales basically hid while Harry and Meghan were touring Australia, perhaps thinking that the Sussexes would spend a long time recovering from their long trip and they could snag a few front pages. You know, the QEII birthday party, then a fun event with race cars, releasing a new photo of Louis ( that counts as work, right?) then leaking to the press about how the heir is really serious in his preparations to be king. Unfortunately for the heir, Harry is a workhorse and capped off a successful tour by dropping in to a warzone and making an international keynote speech. I almost feel sorry for him.

  12. Peg is either incandescent with rage or he has his foot in his mouth. He hasn’t a clue as to what is funny and what isn’t. No wonder there are no more royal tours with him because he hasn’t a clue what he is doing!!

  13. Jais says:

    “It’s funny, I was joking with CB about all of the advancements in technology and everything, at what point does the heir to the throne become a weak link?” Amazing. He’s so tone -deaf. Hahaha it’s so funny that one day you drivers might be the weak link. Hardy har har.

  14. Who Were These People? says:

    Why didn’t he focus on the energy savings aspect of the program? I thought that was the whole point. Every time he tries to act smart he does the opposite.

  15. Jay says:

    Again, this article brought up the children and Louis’ birthday even though they were not part of the event. I think they are trying their best to generate some interest and maybe hint that he should be taking the children with him for these events.

    Imagine how much of a dud you have to be to make a visit to Jaguar racecar HQ boring! TOB is like a walking negative charisma modifier wherever he goes.

  16. Gabby says:

    The look on Peg’s face in these pictures tells me that he found out about Harry’s Ukraine trip eitherjust before or on the way to this event. I love that for him.

  17. sharon says:

    I would really dislike if he came to my workplace and joked how AI could replace me. He should be talking about protecting jobs. What an idiot. While the kids may “love” racing, wherever W&K go, they always say that the kids “love” it. It’s like a default setting. We don’t personally care but oh the kids are huge fans! Lol

  18. Karma says:

    Even better than having an AI monarchy, how about having NO monarchy?

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