> <i>But AI supporters argue that in order to be truly useful, these tools have to be deeply embedded into our lives: that they can only be really helpful if they know the history and context behind what they are being tasked to do.</i><p>The problem is these AI assistants won't work for me, they'll work for Microsoft. They won't help me as much as they will point me in the direction that is the most profitable for Microsoft.<p>When the agenda is not mine then these things are of no use to me.
I can't wait until little Johnny's AI assistant (that's been with him since birth) can communicate to Big Tech's Global HR Overlord AI and they can decide together that a good job is not a privilege that a wrongthinker like Johnny should enjoy.
I think what Suleyman is missing here is that most people <i>aren't</i> fine with their "TVs, laptops, in-car cameras and earbuds" recording everything continuously.<p>The most popular modification made to laptops is a small round sticker to seal off the webcam. The enshittification of the car market is something that <i>only</i> car manufacturers seem to like. The most common question with a smart TV is "how do I get that thing to just accept an HDMI input and not get in the way". Making a slight jump from car cams - things like doorbell cameras are facing increased scrutiny because of their inadvertent recording of the nearby street, which might violate privacy laws.<p>Adding audio and the few seconds before and after to a photo isn't the same thing as a continuous recording; the choice to make the photo is both still with the user and what's happening doesn't feel like a black box. AI assistants <i>are</i> the black box.<p>It was cute when Siri could tell you the nearest sushi bar or can check the schedule from your calendar (although I'll note that every use for Siri tends to be a party trick and half the fun people get from Siri and other assistants is when they <i>don't</i> work as expected; I don't know a single person who uses Siri to for example, read the news or give them a briefing on what's important for the day a-la Star Trek or other utopian scifi), it's creepy when Siri starts to suggest that you might want to visit a sushi bar because it's tracked your food habits for the past week and thinks you could enjoy some more fish food instead. AI assistants overwhelmingly are heading to the latter and now that the party trick element is cooling off, people get more cynical towards how they work (and how they don't work as advertised.)
Oh, right, Microsoft says it? It’ll definitely happen, then. Their pronouncements about the future of computing are famously accurate. That’s why we’ve all been using Windows for Pen Computing since the noughties.
<i>> But AI supporters argue that in order to be truly useful, these tools have to be deeply embedded into our lives</i><p>A tool controlled by corporates like Microsoft <i>that</i> deeply embedded into my life? If that is what it takes to be truly useful then I don't want it to be useful and will be opting out in every way possible. With force if needed…
>> For example, an AI diary manager can only organise your diary if it can access that diary, edit it, and retain information about your activities.<p>Edit a diary? Retain the information? A diary IS a log of information as understood at the time. It's also not the clouds business, nor to be edited.<p>My gosh these people sound stupid.
I expect we’ll look back on this in 5 years and laugh our asses off. AI offers glimpses of brilliance and then sprinkles a bunch of turds around it. 60% of the time it works every time.
The only thing really keeping me on Windows now is Visual Studio. I know there are alternatives on Linux but for my particular work, there's no substitute for the actual full pro version of Visual Studio. But this non-stop parade of enshitification of Windows is really making me think about going back to Linux for my daily driver outside of work tasks. I don't want to have to keep up with what privacy invasion Microsoft has cooked up this week and keep track of the current way to opt-out, if that's even possible. Since first installing Slackware in the mid 90s, I've done several multi-year stints with Linux as my desktop OS, so it wouldn't be a completely alien change but in general I've found Windows to be a bit easier day-to-day and gets in the way less. All this AI and snapshotting garbage, on top of the existing telemetry, is adding up to be too much.
No no no. There is literally nothing about this that I find useful or acceptable, and a whole lot that I find dangerous and frightening. It's handing far too much power over to companies that I fundamentally don't trust.<p>I'm not getting on this train.<p>> AI supporters argue that in order to be truly useful, these tools have to be deeply embedded into our lives: that they can only be really helpful if they know the history and context behind what they are being tasked to do.<p>That cost is far too high.
First it was every online support had the idiot computer voice, Uh. Sorry. Please tell me again in a few words…<p>Now I’ve noticed all of these support services, once you get past the idiot computer, there is now an idiot human who rephrases your question or concerns to the point of stupidity, You’re calling because you’re having problems using the website…<p>Meanwhile, I’m waiting for sentiment analysis and an idiot computer telling me I sound frustrated, How are things at home? Are you having a bad day?