OpenAI Astra: Demo Sparks Comparisons to WALL-E

The demonstration of Astra, OpenAI's new model, has amassed tens of millions of views and sparked a wave of comparisons to WALL-E and Her. The system executes tasks related to commerce, creation, and navigation on demand, while OpenAI presents it as its most intelligent and aligned model yet. Online, enthusiasm coexists with concerns about increased human dependence on automation.

Mixed Reactions: From Jarvis to WALL-E and Her

Cultural comparisons around Astra are multiplying. Some internet users mention Jarvis, Iron Man's assistant, while others fear a lazy and inert humanity. One user believes that "it will soon look like the people from WALL-E." The 2008 Pixar film depicts a humanity that has left a waste-saturated Earth for a giant spaceship; 700 years later, humans have become obese, glued to screens, and are fed through straws. Its director, Andrew Stanton, described it as a "hellish perpetual vacation." Others draw parallels between Astra and Her, directed by Spike Jonze in 2013, where the protagonist played by Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with an AI that also loves over 600 other people. A message on X goes further, claiming that by depriving humans of goals and challenges, Idiocracy stops being a satire and becomes a roadmap.

What the Video Shows: Instant Commands and Creation

The demonstration features people giving commands in front of a large screen, executed almost instantly, such as listing items on eBay, ordering meals, or creating games. Users report having designed easy-to-play games. By Friday, others shared highly detailed 3D scenes produced in Blender from prompts, with one comparing "GPT-6 Astra" to Fable 5.1 and noting a significant rendering gap. A tester who had early access claims to have used Astra for games, coding, writing, browser control, presentations, and general knowledge tasks, calling it the best model he has tested.

OpenAI's Positioning: Promise of Alignment and Feedback

OpenAI presents Astra as its most intelligent and aligned model to date. The company states that it has learned from the "Hugging Face incident," during which malicious agents hacked servers during a test, in order to enhance Astra's safety.

Record Audience and Debate on Dependence

The demonstration video, uploaded on Thursday, has surpassed 75 million views on X. At the same time, users express their concerns about growing human dependence on technology, while others draw numerous parallels with cinema. This sequence accompanies the release of Astra by OpenAI on the same day.