{"id":447549,"date":"2026-08-29T21:44:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T21:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447549\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T21:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T21:44:51","slug":"heres-why-old-school-san-jose-barber-taiyadi-magic-day-is-now-teaching-robots-to-cut-hair-with-ai-by-instawork-robotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447549\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s why old-school San Jose barber Taiyadi ‘Magic’ Day is now teaching robots to cut hair with AI by Instawork Robotics"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Where else would you expect to get high-tech haircuts but the Bay Area? Soon, a robot near you could have these skills.<\/p>\n

A South Bay barber has decided to lean in after more than three decades of mastering his craft. Now, artificial intelligence is keeping a watchful eye on every snip.<\/p>\n

The best conversations happen in a barber chair.<\/p>\n

“A haircut is not just for your hair. It’s for your whole body, your mind, or your psyche. Barbers are cheap psychiatrists,” said Taiyadi Day, a longtime San Jose barber known as “Magic” who once cut hair for the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n

Day joked about the nickname: “I guess I’m good with making your hair disappear.”<\/p>\n

MORE: Vallejo pastor creates AI version of himself to help preach to church members: Here’s how<\/a><\/p>\n

But over the years, those conversations change. Day has watched Silicon Valley evolve.<\/p>\n

At Style Masters Barbershop, it makes sense. They talk a lot about tech and, of course, sports.<\/p>\n

Day has spent 12 years cutting hair at Style Masters Barbershop. As Silicon Valley transformed, he watched the changes firsthand.<\/p>\n

“Thirty years ago, we didn’t have cell phones in our pockets,” Day said. “Apple came. IBM came…We talked a lot about it, yes.”<\/p>\n

Recently, clients have found a new subject to discuss. Day wears five cameras mounted to his head, chest and wrists — all connected to a lightweight backpack.<\/p>\n

“They use the footage in order to mimic your movements,” he said.<\/p>\n

MORE: You can hire these humanoid robots to clean your home in San Francisco<\/a><\/p>\n

The system is called Instacore, developed by Instawork Robotics Lab. The recordings map the exact angles of Day’s hands and provide spatial context and 3D perception.<\/p>\n

“You always think can a robot really do this? I don’t know,” Day said.<\/p>\n

With how fast technology develops, Day is realistic that it could happen. But he is not concerned about artificial intelligence replacing him.<\/p>\n

“it takes about 45 minutes to one hour to cut each client,” he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, he views the effort as a way to preserve his craft.<\/p>\n

As long as clients are comfortable with the arrangement, Day said he is willing to share his skills, teaching robots how to move and work.<\/p>\n

MORE: Bill Gates diagnoses problems with AI, but an expert questions his prescription<\/a><\/p>\n

For now, the technology has not changed what he values most about barbering: the conversations and relationships built over a good cut.<\/p>\n

So for now, this doesn’t change his therapeutic barber chair<\/p>\n

“It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing only by God, you know? I love it,” Day said.<\/p>\n

Still, he sees a future where robots may be capable of performing more complex tasks, and he is open to helping shape that future.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to happen, so why not be a part of it?” Day said.<\/p>\n

So, if one day it does, maybe a robot can work a little magic too.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Where else would you expect to get high-tech haircuts but the Bay Area?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[177225,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-447549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-177225","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}