Is Sam Altman’s UBI startup a smart countermeasure to AI, or a privacy nightmare? Jeff Wilser reports. : I’ve traveled to Berlin to stare into the future. Or, more accurately, I’ve traveled to Berlin to stare -- literally stare -- into a device that some see as our best hope for taming, and perhaps harnessing, the future powers of AI. Others see that same device as a Black Mirror episode sprung to life, designed to track and control us. The Orb is about the size of a bowling ball. It’s chrome and shiny and smooth.