Nobody Wants This AI Virus Software
AI is everywhere now. If you’re a tech company and don’t use artificial intelligence (ahem, Apple), you look like you’re behind the times. But just because generative AI is a trend now doesn’t mean companies need to implement it into absolutely everything they do. Perhaps more companies should follow Apple’s example.
Look, AI definitely has the potential to change the way we interact with technology, for better or worse: sometimes a new app for it comes along —like OpenAI’s shockingly realistic video generator —that demonstrates just how powerful the power AI has to ruin the lives we we know this. But the way companies add AI to their products is largely wrong.
Big bloatware
Of course, there’s no escape from big names adding AI functionality to their platforms: Google is betting on Gemini to bring AI functionality to Android for traditional Google search. The same can be said for Microsoft, of course: Windows now has Copilot , and you’re expected to use it for almost everything you do on your PC. Depending on who you are, this type of forced adoption may be beneficial or frustrating for you. I’m a little indifferent: I’m happy to see new OS-level features use AI if they’re actually useful, and as long as I can avoid aspects that I don’t consider necessary, it’s not a big deal. You can hide Copilot if you want , and even though you can use Gemini as your Android assistant, you don’t have to. (At least for now .)
But at some point, the number of AI products from large companies begins to seem ridiculous. I know Meta is a big name like Google or Microsoft, but no one wants to use Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. Llama 3 may be a world-class LLM, but if I use one of Meta’s products, it’s to catch up with my friends, not to consult the AI. This is why AI-powered features are usually the best route: Unlike forced chatbots, these features can be useful, such as AI-powered image editing on Instagram , and even if they aren’t, they’re easy to avoid.
Apple is also looking to join AI , although it’s unclear in what capacity. I think everyone would be thrilled if Apple kept the bloat to a minimum and added features that make sense for the platform. I’d just love it if they made Siri better.
Everyone gets A.I.
But it’s not just big names adding AI to their platforms: companies left, right and center are adding AI to things that don’t need AI at all. Essentially AI is becoming the new bloatware and I’d like to see it stop.
Let’s take Logitech for example. The company recently announced the new Logitech Signature AI Edition M750 mouse, which has one completely new feature: a button to invoke Logi AI Prompt Builder, a ChatGPT-based 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 use AI power to speed up your writing: Instead of leaving the app you’re in, Logi AI Prompt Builder will prompt you to paste your text in a floating window and give you the usual AI editing tools: paraphrase, summarize, reply, or, oddly enough, “Compose Email.” You can also ask Logi AI Prompt Builder to do specific things with your text, adjust output length, and adjust tone, none of which are particularly drastic for a generative AI application.
Maybe I’m ignorant here, but I just don’t see any practical use for this. How many people who buy Logitech mice actually want to run an app to edit their writing, so much so that they buy a mouse with a dedicated key just for the privilege?
This won’t be much of a help for PC users running Windows 11: Microsoft has already made sure that the Windows + C shortcut will launch Copilot , which, by the way, also runs on ChatGPT. If you really need AI input in your writing, you definitely won’t need Logitech’s help. Even if you’re using macOS, an operating system with little to no artificial intelligence, you can leave a ChatGPT window open in the background to paste text into it. If you prefer a Google bot, you can ask Gemini to help you rewrite your words. If you use Opera, you can view the browser . Heck, give it to Meta AI: there’s no shortage of apps that can help you rewrite your words (and that’s my point).
But speaking of Microsoft, Windows PCs will also come with an AI button this year . The company added it to Surface laptops this year, so new Surface users can press the Copilot key to summon Assistant. This worries me: No matter how much you think AI will change technology in the near future, dedicating a key to this technology, especially a key on Microsoft’s flagship laptop, is a risky bet. How many of us still press the built-in Crackle or Pandora buttons on our TV remotes? (We apologize to fans of these services.)
Nothing, on the other hand, makes headphones that can activate the ChatGPT app by pressing the stem, in case you need to ask the AI for something using the Nothing headphones. Maybe some people who really love AI will like this shortcut for ChatGPT, but most people buying headphones likely won’t make a decision based on which brand connects them to ChatGPT the fastest. Not to mention how app after app has somehow integrated AI into their platform , but at least for many apps these features have their uses or are easily avoided.
Tech fads come and go
The tech industry is certainly not immune to capitalizing on fads and failing miserably. Remember 3D movies? Avatar seemed to convince everyone in Hollywood and TV production that 3D was the future: every blockbuster from then on had to be in 3D, and the latest and greatest TVs had to support 3D as well. The TVs even came with special glasses , like better versions of the ones they had in movie theaters. Of course, 3D TV never really took off, and 3D movies, for the most part, slowly died out. (God bless.)
Speaking of TVs, remember when TiVo and similar products seemed like a thing of the future? Who wouldn’t want to pay to be able to pause, rewind and record a live stream? Unfortunately, TiVo never saw streaming coming, and with that, many of us cut the cord to watch content in any way, shape, or form we liked. After all, cable companies added this functionality to their services anyway: If you still subscribe to cable, there’s no reason to buy another product to juggle your live TV experience. (Yet, somehow TiVo still exists .)
You can even use VR here. Look, I’ve enjoyed many of my virtual reality experiences, but you can’t deny the fact that the technology simply hasn’t matured as much as you might have expected. When it started to take off (not counting the launch of the Virtual Boy, of course), who wouldn’t have thought that virtual reality was the future? But expensive and clunky hardware (not to mention the complete lack of real-world immersion in VR) poses too many obstacles to the technology’s adoption. VR still enjoys modest success in its niche, but it’s not a must-have technology in every home.
Look, we’re still at the beginning of this thing. Right now, most of the AI we see is either implemented by big tech or contained in applications. I can handle this. But I don’t want to see more companies take the Lenovo or Nothing approach here: you don’t need to build an AI application inside a product you already sell if that AI application doesn’t add anything valuable to the end user. I get it: Companies want to use keywords like “AI” and “ChatGPT” in their products because they think it will impress consumers. But if I buy a mouse and it asks me if I want to use a proprietary AI app to rework my text, I might have to box it up and return it.