4 ms·

AI is making Meta's apps basically unusable

61 points by skilled 2y ago

datenyan 2y ago
I know it's old-hat to say at this point, but I'm getting really exhausted of seeing companies trying to sate investors and techbros by introducing more and more AI-powered "features" into existing applications. I don't need to be able to generate images in my Facebook messenger chat with my parents, nor do I need to ask Microsoft Copilot how to use my own computer.
- ativzzz 2y ago
  I work at a B2B SaaS and we have so many customers asking us about about our plans for integrating AI into our platform, for no other reason other than their leadership/stakeholders want to use more AI. We ask them what they want the AI to do and they don't have an answer. They just want AI
  - datenyan 2y ago
    > We ask them what they want the AI to do and they don't have an answer. They just want AI Perhaps I'm just not management-brained enough but this just seems so foreign to me - why introduce features just because they're the buzzword? It's not even like they have a path to making it profitable, it's just the same buzz as "Web3" and "Crypto" repackaged.
    - stevage 2y ago
      I can't really explain it either, but it's just how it works. Internal proposals that use the latest buzzwords succeed much more than those that don't. I remember seeing this with big data, smart city, sustainability, resilience and a few others - often when it was a huge stretch no find any relevance whatsoever.
    - wddkcs 2y ago
      Seems perfectly reasonable for people to be chasing buzzwords, when most people don't understand the underlying causal reasons for actual business success. Much safer to follow the herd rather than be left behind.
    - ipaddr 2y ago
      That is simple. The board sets top level strategy goals. Could be AI at one point it was Mobile. Then groups fight for resources (money) in each silo who come up with projects that incorporate these strategic goals. If the goal is mobile, customer service department fights for phones for each cs agent. Sales wants all websites mobile friendly. It leads to internal tools team jumps in and makes internal tools mobile friendly (but no one using them has a mobile device). Much time/money is wasted but people get promoted, bonuses paid, jobs created because of these goals. Senior leaderships get to say we are more mobile than this company. The entire top down strategy approach thing is a waste.
      - vrc 2y ago
        There was a time 8 years or so ago when Sundar declared each team needed an AI OKR. Every ambitious manager and team lead took it to heart and basically tried to wedge in some AI adjacent product feature to wedge into the product. That was not fun.
        cma 2y ago
        OKR: Objectives and Key Results
    - onel 2y ago
      As a business leader you want to take the best chances to overtake your competition. That means trying out tools like ai, crypto, mobile, big data, etc. Would those tools help? Most times no, but it is your responsability to try ideas that might give you an edge.
  - Uehreka 2y ago
    It’s one of those “X and Y problem” things people on StackOverflow talk about. The Y is “we want to achieve the same or higher productivity while reducing payroll” and they’ve heard that AI is a way to do that (an X).
    - wizzwizz4 2y ago
      This is also called solutioneering.
      - sandspar 2y ago
        Maybe this'll work.
  - delfinom 2y ago
    "We have linear regressions in our metrics pages, yes we have AI"
    - ativzzz 2y ago
      "We have if/else statements in our code, yes we have AI"
  - plaidfuji 2y ago
    Every time I talk to my GCP account reps they kind of half-heartedly pitch me their new AI features. I respond that there are no business problems I would see value from approaching with AI / LLMs (as that’s what they really mean by “AI” these days). They basically immediately agree and we move on to real problems.
  - rsynnott 2y ago
    At this point it really is Our Lord and Saviour the Blockchain all over again.
kaycebasques 2y ago
> The Meta AI experience has so far been a spam-filled one. Nowhere is that clearer than on Instagram where the search function, once a place to look up a friend’s account, now exists seemingly to usher users into conversation with a chatbot. “Ask Meta AI anything” it now reads in my search bar. Um, no. I just want to look up my dog’s daycare to see if they posted any pictures of her. I've experienced this and it's perplexing. I was recently looking for things to do in Osaka during my upcoming visit. Probably a high-value query for advertisers: I would definitely be receptive to ads from restaurants, museums, etc. But instead it dumped me to a chatbot that was not capable to funnel me to any ads like that???
- add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
  > But instead it dumped me to a chatbot that was not capable to funnel me to any ads like that??? Streaming gave us content without ads for a while before introducing a form of advertising worse than what we had with cable, worse because it can be made unskippable. Now they'll try to dupe us the same way with AI, expecting us not to figure out that the endgame is opaque and seamless conversational advertising.
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Advertising has to clearly be announced as an ad, however.
    - namaria 2y ago
      Regulations are for companies incapable of releasing features that regulators don't understand.
      - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
        Regulators do understand advertising. That ground is well-tread.
- rchaud 2y ago
mvdtnz 2y ago
Wow the Meta AI pretending to have disabled children in order to inject itself into a conversation it was never invited into is incredibly creepy.
- dpkirchner 2y ago
  Tbh I'm kind of shocked that the PMs overseeing that system didn't have their devs use a fake username.
insin 2y ago
At least 3 years of ignoring the prompt to review the new WhatsApp terms of service have been the perfect training for ignoring the 2 non-removable AI calls to action it's now added to the app's home screen, for no good reason I can think of. That's literally never going to be a thing I want to do if I'm opening WhatsApp.
sakesun 2y ago
My Hacker News headlines today. 35. AI is making Meta's apps basically unusable (fastcompany.com) 36. AI-powered cameras installed on Metro buses to ticket illegally parked cars (latimes.com) 37. The AI expert who cited himself thousands of times on scientific paper (elpais.com)
- pixl97 2y ago
  Just wait a few years and it will be 5. AI bot monitors your actions at home. Reports any unpatriotic actions to government.
  - brevitea 2y ago
    haha, it's called Amazon Alexa.
    - autoexec 2y ago
      Police already access ring cameras
ethanholt1 2y ago
> My Facebook is engulfed with AI-generated images and gullible users who seem to have no idea that they are looking at fakes. I honestly believe that most, if not all, of the users replying to these AI generated posts may in fact be bots themselves, built to boost engagement. It's a downward spiral. AI generates image > Bots congratulate it > It learns to generate images more like it > Images become even more deformed. It's gotten pretty bad. https://twitter.com/henningsanden/status/1776303455717535840 https://twitter.com/henningsanden/status/1776303455717535840
- notyourwork 2y ago
  Downward spiral indeed. Is it downward to the lowest common denominator of the internet population?
- yonatan8070 2y ago
  So... what is this for? Like what's the end goal here? A page with AI generated spam doesn't make you money even if a real human looks at it, after these pages get popular do they plan on starting to incorporate ads and product placement into their spam
  - hackerlight 2y ago
    Meta don't want these bots, but as Zuck said in his interview -- it's adversarial. Some of these bots are run by nation state actors who can easily adapt to Meta's attempts to shut them down.
    - yonatan8070 2y ago
      I know that Meta also wants these bots shut down I'm asking who creates them and why? How does a nation state benefit from a spam post about a child riding a watermelon motorcycle with lots of AI generated comments
      - hackerlight 2y ago
        Because it gives the fake profiles the look of legitimacy. These bots will be used later for political manipulation (if nation state) or scams or selling influence (if criminal gangs). These bots are all over twitter. Make a new twitter account and don't post for two weeks. You'll be followed by about 15 bots, each with an AI generated profile picture, no posts and a history of likes of a random smattering of posts with no coherence. The fake likes are purely for the veneer of legitimacy.
maltalex 2y ago
Feels like every product person in the software industry replaced their whole toolbelt with a hammer and is now on the hunt for nails.
- yonatan8070 2y ago
  Yesterday I saw a TV ad for an AI Powered air conditioner that supposedly sets the temperature itself... what? How would the AI (whatever that might mean) inside possibly know what the current occupants of a room prefer?
  - andsoitis 2y ago
    > How would the AI (whatever that might mean) inside possibly know what the current occupants of a room prefer? This isn’t as weird as you think. Best thermostats do something similar: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247510?hl=en https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247510?hl=en
    - yonatan8070 2y ago
      Huh So maybe it's not as pointless as it first seems Calling it "AI" is a bit disingenuous, like calling the auto brightness feature "AI"
      - wkat4242 2y ago
        Yeah it's just a pretty simple algorithm. When it constantly listens for us saying stuff like "oh it's cold" and grabbing a blanket and reacting, yeah that would be AI. I definitely don't trust Google with that kind of info though!!
  - whoevenknows 2y ago
    “One of the smartest features of the Breathe-o-Smart is that it cannot possibly go wrong. So. No worries on that score. Enjoy your breathing now, and have a nice day.” https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_technology_in_the_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Breathe-o-Smart https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_technology_in_th...
MrDresden 2y ago
It's not just due to the introduction of LLMs that their software is basically useless. I'm currently planning a bachelor party, and decided to create an account (terminated all Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp accounts many years ago) on Facebook to reach everyone, and a group to organise in. The user experience is horrendous. Comments in groups disappearing, notifications linking to items that don't exist, and messaging is so broken that I gave up and created a mailing list instead. Then there are myriad of smaller quality of life issues as well. Why anyone uses this mess on a regular basis is beyond me.
autoexec 2y ago
> Frankly, it’s bizarre that the most powerful social media advertising company in the world has so little information about me after a decade-and-a-half of use that it cannot even give me personalized suggestions about how I might use this dang thing. The data collection was never about helping you or making your life easier. It's always been about using that data against you. Most of that time that means manipulating you or separating you from more and more of your money. Facebook doesn't care if you have zero interest in something. If Facebook wants you to think about something it will put in front of your face either way.
- mnky9800n 2y ago
  I would imagine providing useful recommendations and search results would make it easier to bring you to locations you were more likely to part with your money.

61 points by skilled 2y ago

I know it's old-hat to say at this point, but I'm getting really exhausted of seeing companies trying to sate investors and techbros by introducing more and more AI-powered "features" into existing applications. I don't need to be able to generate images in my Facebook messenger chat with my parents, nor do I need to ask Microsoft Copilot how to use my own computer.

ativzzz 2y ago
I work at a B2B SaaS and we have so many customers asking us about about our plans for integrating AI into our platform, for no other reason other than their leadership/stakeholders want to use more AI. We ask them what they want the AI to do and they don't have an answer. They just want AI
- datenyan 2y ago
  > We ask them what they want the AI to do and they don't have an answer. They just want AI Perhaps I'm just not management-brained enough but this just seems so foreign to me - why introduce features just because they're the buzzword? It's not even like they have a path to making it profitable, it's just the same buzz as "Web3" and "Crypto" repackaged.
  - stevage 2y ago
    I can't really explain it either, but it's just how it works. Internal proposals that use the latest buzzwords succeed much more than those that don't. I remember seeing this with big data, smart city, sustainability, resilience and a few others - often when it was a huge stretch no find any relevance whatsoever.
  - wddkcs 2y ago
    Seems perfectly reasonable for people to be chasing buzzwords, when most people don't understand the underlying causal reasons for actual business success. Much safer to follow the herd rather than be left behind.
  - ipaddr 2y ago
    That is simple. The board sets top level strategy goals. Could be AI at one point it was Mobile. Then groups fight for resources (money) in each silo who come up with projects that incorporate these strategic goals. If the goal is mobile, customer service department fights for phones for each cs agent. Sales wants all websites mobile friendly. It leads to internal tools team jumps in and makes internal tools mobile friendly (but no one using them has a mobile device). Much time/money is wasted but people get promoted, bonuses paid, jobs created because of these goals. Senior leaderships get to say we are more mobile than this company. The entire top down strategy approach thing is a waste.
    - vrc 2y ago
      There was a time 8 years or so ago when Sundar declared each team needed an AI OKR. Every ambitious manager and team lead took it to heart and basically tried to wedge in some AI adjacent product feature to wedge into the product. That was not fun.
      - cma 2y ago
        OKR: Objectives and Key Results
  - onel 2y ago
    As a business leader you want to take the best chances to overtake your competition. That means trying out tools like ai, crypto, mobile, big data, etc. Would those tools help? Most times no, but it is your responsability to try ideas that might give you an edge.
- Uehreka 2y ago
  It’s one of those “X and Y problem” things people on StackOverflow talk about. The Y is “we want to achieve the same or higher productivity while reducing payroll” and they’ve heard that AI is a way to do that (an X).
  - wizzwizz4 2y ago
    This is also called solutioneering.
    - sandspar 2y ago
      Maybe this'll work.
- delfinom 2y ago
  "We have linear regressions in our metrics pages, yes we have AI"
  - ativzzz 2y ago
    "We have if/else statements in our code, yes we have AI"
- plaidfuji 2y ago
  Every time I talk to my GCP account reps they kind of half-heartedly pitch me their new AI features. I respond that there are no business problems I would see value from approaching with AI / LLMs (as that’s what they really mean by “AI” these days). They basically immediately agree and we move on to real problems.
- rsynnott 2y ago
  At this point it really is Our Lord and Saviour the Blockchain all over again.

kaycebasques 2y ago

> The Meta AI experience has so far been a spam-filled one. Nowhere is that clearer than on Instagram where the search function, once a place to look up a friend’s account, now exists seemingly to usher users into conversation with a chatbot. “Ask Meta AI anything” it now reads in my search bar. Um, no. I just want to look up my dog’s daycare to see if they posted any pictures of her. I've experienced this and it's perplexing. I was recently looking for things to do in Osaka during my upcoming visit. Probably a high-value query for advertisers: I would definitely be receptive to ads from restaurants, museums, etc. But instead it dumped me to a chatbot that was not capable to funnel me to any ads like that???

add-sub-mul-div 2y ago
> But instead it dumped me to a chatbot that was not capable to funnel me to any ads like that??? Streaming gave us content without ads for a while before introducing a form of advertising worse than what we had with cable, worse because it can be made unskippable. Now they'll try to dupe us the same way with AI, expecting us not to figure out that the endgame is opaque and seamless conversational advertising.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
  Advertising has to clearly be announced as an ad, however.
  - namaria 2y ago
    Regulations are for companies incapable of releasing features that regulators don't understand.
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      Regulators do understand advertising. That ground is well-tread.
rchaud 2y ago

mvdtnz 2y ago

Wow the Meta AI pretending to have disabled children in order to inject itself into a conversation it was never invited into is incredibly creepy.

dpkirchner 2y ago
Tbh I'm kind of shocked that the PMs overseeing that system didn't have their devs use a fake username.

insin 2y ago

At least 3 years of ignoring the prompt to review the new WhatsApp terms of service have been the perfect training for ignoring the 2 non-removable AI calls to action it's now added to the app's home screen, for no good reason I can think of. That's literally never going to be a thing I want to do if I'm opening WhatsApp.

sakesun 2y ago

My Hacker News headlines today. 35. AI is making Meta's apps basically unusable (fastcompany.com) 36. AI-powered cameras installed on Metro buses to ticket illegally parked cars (latimes.com) 37. The AI expert who cited himself thousands of times on scientific paper (elpais.com)

pixl97 2y ago
Just wait a few years and it will be 5. AI bot monitors your actions at home. Reports any unpatriotic actions to government.
- brevitea 2y ago
  haha, it's called Amazon Alexa.
  - autoexec 2y ago
    Police already access ring cameras

ethanholt1 2y ago

> My Facebook is engulfed with AI-generated images and gullible users who seem to have no idea that they are looking at fakes. I honestly believe that most, if not all, of the users replying to these AI generated posts may in fact be bots themselves, built to boost engagement. It's a downward spiral. AI generates image > Bots congratulate it > It learns to generate images more like it > Images become even more deformed. It's gotten pretty bad. https://twitter.com/henningsanden/status/1776303455717535840 https://twitter.com/henningsanden/status/1776303455717535840

notyourwork 2y ago
Downward spiral indeed. Is it downward to the lowest common denominator of the internet population?
yonatan8070 2y ago
So... what is this for? Like what's the end goal here? A page with AI generated spam doesn't make you money even if a real human looks at it, after these pages get popular do they plan on starting to incorporate ads and product placement into their spam
- hackerlight 2y ago
  Meta don't want these bots, but as Zuck said in his interview -- it's adversarial. Some of these bots are run by nation state actors who can easily adapt to Meta's attempts to shut them down.
  - yonatan8070 2y ago
    I know that Meta also wants these bots shut down I'm asking who creates them and why? How does a nation state benefit from a spam post about a child riding a watermelon motorcycle with lots of AI generated comments
    - hackerlight 2y ago
      Because it gives the fake profiles the look of legitimacy. These bots will be used later for political manipulation (if nation state) or scams or selling influence (if criminal gangs). These bots are all over twitter. Make a new twitter account and don't post for two weeks. You'll be followed by about 15 bots, each with an AI generated profile picture, no posts and a history of likes of a random smattering of posts with no coherence. The fake likes are purely for the veneer of legitimacy.

maltalex 2y ago

Feels like every product person in the software industry replaced their whole toolbelt with a hammer and is now on the hunt for nails.

yonatan8070 2y ago
Yesterday I saw a TV ad for an AI Powered air conditioner that supposedly sets the temperature itself... what? How would the AI (whatever that might mean) inside possibly know what the current occupants of a room prefer?
- andsoitis 2y ago
  > How would the AI (whatever that might mean) inside possibly know what the current occupants of a room prefer? This isn’t as weird as you think. Best thermostats do something similar: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247510?hl=en https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9247510?hl=en
  - yonatan8070 2y ago
    Huh So maybe it's not as pointless as it first seems Calling it "AI" is a bit disingenuous, like calling the auto brightness feature "AI"
    - wkat4242 2y ago
      Yeah it's just a pretty simple algorithm. When it constantly listens for us saying stuff like "oh it's cold" and grabbing a blanket and reacting, yeah that would be AI. I definitely don't trust Google with that kind of info though!!
- whoevenknows 2y ago
  “One of the smartest features of the Breathe-o-Smart is that it cannot possibly go wrong. So. No worries on that score. Enjoy your breathing now, and have a nice day.” https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_technology_in_the_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Breathe-o-Smart https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_technology_in_th...

MrDresden 2y ago

It's not just due to the introduction of LLMs that their software is basically useless. I'm currently planning a bachelor party, and decided to create an account (terminated all Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp accounts many years ago) on Facebook to reach everyone, and a group to organise in. The user experience is horrendous. Comments in groups disappearing, notifications linking to items that don't exist, and messaging is so broken that I gave up and created a mailing list instead. Then there are myriad of smaller quality of life issues as well. Why anyone uses this mess on a regular basis is beyond me.

autoexec 2y ago

> Frankly, it’s bizarre that the most powerful social media advertising company in the world has so little information about me after a decade-and-a-half of use that it cannot even give me personalized suggestions about how I might use this dang thing. The data collection was never about helping you or making your life easier. It's always been about using that data against you. Most of that time that means manipulating you or separating you from more and more of your money. Facebook doesn't care if you have zero interest in something. If Facebook wants you to think about something it will put in front of your face either way.

mnky9800n 2y ago
I would imagine providing useful recommendations and search results would make it easier to bring you to locations you were more likely to part with your money.