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Artificial intelligence is everywhere now. If you’re a tech company and you don’t employ AI (ahem, Apple), you look like you’ve gone back in time. But just because generative AI is warm right now doesn’t mean companies have to force it into everything they do. Perhaps more companies should follow Apple’s lead on this one.
Look, AI certainly has the potential to change the way we interact with technology, for better or for worse: sometimes a recent app for it comes along – like OpenAI’s shockingly realistic video generator – that shows just how much power AI has to disrupt lives we know that. But the way companies are adding AI to their products, for the most part, is simply not the case.
Major bloatware
Of course, you can’t avoid massive names adding AI functionality to their platforms: Google is going all-in on Gemini, supporting AI features on Android across conventional Google search engines. The same can be said for Microsoft, of course: Windows now has Copilot, and it anticipates you’ll employ it for almost everything you do on your computer. Depending on who you are, you may find this type of forced adoption helpful or frustrating. I’m a bit indifferent: I’m elated for recent OS-level features to employ AI if they’re really useful, and as long as I can avoid aspects I don’t think are necessary, it’s not a massive deal. You can hide Copilot if you want, and while you can adopt Gemini as your Android assistant, you don’t have to do so. (At least not yet.)
But at some point, the amount of flashy AI products coming from massive companies starts to seem absurd. I know Meta is a massive brand like Google or Microsoft, but no one wants to employ Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. Maybe Llama 3 is a world-class LLM, but if I employ one of Meta’s products, it’s to catch up with friends, not to consult the AI. That’s why AI-powered features are usually the better route: unlike forced chatbots, these features can be useful, like AI image editing on Instagram, and even if they aren’t, they’re simple to avoid.
Apple will also soon jump on the AI bandwagon, though it’s not yet clear to what extent. I think everyone would be delighted if Apple kept the bloat to a minimum and added features that made sense for the platform. I would just be elated if they improved Siri.
Everyone gets artificial intelligence
But it’s not just the massive names that are adding AI to their platforms: companies left, right and center are adding AI to things that simply don’t need it. In effect, AI is becoming the recent bloatware, and I’d like to see it end.
Take Logitech for example. The company recently announced the recent Logitech Signature AI Edition M750 mouse, which comes with one brand recent feature: a button to invoke Logi AI Prompt Builder, the ChatGPT-enabled application included in Logitech’s Logi Options+ software. Without going into too much detail, Logitech wants you to press a button whenever you want to employ the power of AI to improve your text: instead of leaving the app you’re currently using, Logi AI Prompt Builder prompts you to paste text in a floating window and provides the usual AI editing tools : rephrase, summarize, reply or, oddly enough, “Compose email.” You can also ask the Logi AI Prompt Builder to do something specific with the text, adjusting the length of the output text and adjusting the tone, which isn’t particularly radical for a generative AI application.
Source: Logitech
Maybe I’m uninformed, but I just don’t see the practical application of this. How many people who buy Logitech mice actually want to run an application to alter their handwriting, so much so that they will buy a mouse with a dedicated key just for the privilege?
This won’t be of much lend a hand to Windows 11 PC users: Microsoft has already made sure to make it quick Windows Key + C the shortcut brings up Copilot, which, by the way, is also supported by ChatGPT. If you really need AI input into your writing, you certainly don’t need Logitech to do it. Even if you’re using macOS, a largely AI-free operating system, you can leave a ChatGPT window open in the background and paste text into it. If you prefer a Google bot, you can ask Gemini to lend a hand you transcribe the words. If you employ Opera, you can ask your browser to check. Hell, give it to Meta AI: It is NO there are no applications that can be used to transcribe words (and that’s what I mean).
But speaking of Microsoft, this year Windows PCs will also come with an AI button. The company added it to this year’s list Surface laptops, so recent Surface users can press the Copilot key to launch the assistant. I’m torn: No matter how much you think AI will change technology in the near future, sacrificing a key to the technology – especially the key on Microsoft’s flagship laptop – is a risky choice. How many of us still press the built-in Crackle or Pandora buttons on our TV remotes? (Sorry to all fans of these services.)
Nothing, on the other hand, is comes out with headphones which can activate the ChatGPT app by pressing the stem, in case you need to ask the AI something with yours Thread buds. Maybe some people who really love AI will like this shortcut to ChatGPT, but most people buying earbuds probably won’t make a decision based on which brand connects them to ChatGPT the fastest. Not to mention how each app integrates AI into its platform Some way, but at least for many applications these features are useful or can be easily avoided.
Technology fashion comes and goes
The tech industry is certainly not immune to profiting from fads and failing spectacularly. Do you remember 3D movies? Avatar seemed to convince everyone in Hollywood and television production that 3D was the future: every blockbuster from then on had be in 3D and the latest and greatest TVs had also support 3D. Televisions even came with special glasses, like higher-quality versions of those offered in movie theaters. Of course, 3D television never really gained popularity, and 3D movies mostly slowly died out. (Thank God.)
Speaking of TVs, remember when TiVo and similar products were similar the the way forward? Who wouldn’t want to pay for the ability to pause, rewind and record live TV? Unfortunately, TiVo never saw the arrival of streaming, and with it, many of us cut the cord to watch content in any way, shape, or form we like. Ultimately, cable companies added this functionality to their services anyway: if you still subscribe to cable TV, you have no reason to buy another product to manipulate your live TV experience. (That said, somehow TiVo still exists.)
Even VR can be used here. Look, I’ve enjoyed many of my experiences with VR, but you can’t deny that the technology just hasn’t progressed as much as you might have assumed. When did this start to appear (not counting the release of Virtual Boy, of course), who NO Did you think virtual reality was the future? However, exorbitant and clunky hardware (not to mention virtual reality’s complete lack of real-world immersion) created too many obstacles for the technology to go mainstream. VR continues to have modest success in its niche, but it’s not a necessary technology for every home.
Look, we’re still in the early stages of this. Today, most of the AI we see is implemented by massive tech or embedded in applications. I can deal with it. But I don’t want to see more and more companies take the Lenovo or Nothing approach to this: you don’t have to build an AI application within a product you already sell if that AI application doesn’t add anything of value to the end user. I get it: companies want to put keywords like “AI” and “ChatGPT” on their products because they think it will impress consumers. But if I buy a mouse and it asks if I want to employ a proprietary AI app to parse my text, I might have to box it up and return it.
