4 ms·

I’m not the most in touch person in the world but this ad felt super out of touch. I was having this discussion with someone and they said the problem with tec

I’m not the most in touch person in the world but this ad felt super out of touch. I was having this discussion with someone and they said the problem with tech is they’re just going to teach our kids to be prompt engineers and learn nothing else, and I naively defended the tech industry and said no, of course not, AI will be used to enhance people’s learning of traditional skills, not replace it, and boy does this ad make me feel wrong.

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
The ad is seen as so bad because its attempt to create some supposed "essential" use case is hilariously transparent. There's just a visceral disgust we have when we see things like these targeted at children. We know what they are. The takeaway from the ad is a step back and away from the idea that technology will make us better or improve our lives; Google comes across as crassly presenting something bad (or pointless at best) as some human good, when most people can see right through it as the worst kind of marketing, a new low point in 2 decades and change of tech companies insisting they're "changing the world" with some half-baked, MBA fuelled, ghoulish crap.
- seoulmetro 2y ago
  > when most people can see right through it as the worst kind of marketing No. Most people definitely cannot. Most people can't see through the weird diversity nuclear option on all large company marketing these days. "White, male, straight, most common denominator in many countries and YOU have the NERVE to think that we should market to you!?" It'd be hilarious if it weren't so weird to think that people are actively trying not to include the largest demographics.
  - consteval 2y ago
    I think the reality is that the vast majority of media, period, is about and targeted to white people. If you were to take up ALL the media, you'd realize minorities are still very under represented. Also it makes people feel good when they're represented. White men won't admit that, because for them they're always represented. And when they're not its a problem, so clearly even they understand the power of representation. And, lastly, if you LOOK you can see white people are still in almost every ad. They're just not the only people in the ad. This is a problem of greed, the white man does not settle for anything less than 100%. Keep in mind I'm saying this as a white man. The world is truly made for us and our success. On the off-chance it's not this one time, we need to be okay with that and learn to get over it.
    - seoulmetro 2y ago
      This would be fine if the representation was accurate. It's not. >White men won't admit that, because for them they're always represented. No they aren't... what? People represented to the market before they represented for "moral dilemmas". >And, lastly, if you LOOK you can see white people are still in almost every ad. No, they aren't. That's the point of my comment. It's almost a meme that every company refuses to put a white straight male in advertised media. >The world is truly made for us and our success. You sound like you've taken a sip of the Koolaid. This entire comment is bizarre and wrong. I'm going to assume you also think cultural appropriation is an actual thing too?
      - consteval 2y ago
        I'm sorry, you're just wrong. White men are represented. In almost every TV show, EVEN the ones who promote diversity. I mean take a look at Disney's new star wars shows. All incredibly diverse and guess what - each one has white men in it. Again, same with the ads. Ads typically have multiple people in them. Usually at least one is white, typically more or most are white. But as I've iterated, white people are greedy. Anything less than 100% may as well be 0% to the eyes of a lot of white people. That's been the theme since the inception of the US.
        seoulmetro 2y ago
        Ah I see you're just a racist. That makes sense. I guess numbers will continue to delude you.
        consteval 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - techostritch 2y ago
    What are you on about? I can’t really dissect your words, but 60% of the worlds population is Asian. Like only 10% of the worlds population is white.
    - seoulmetro 2y ago
      I don't think you understand which markets Apple targets with their $1.5k phones. If they were marketing it for the masses it'd be vastly different. Obviously they're marketing it for Western nations.
IncreasePosts 2y ago
Even prompt engineering won't be necessary soon enough, where the AI can just ask a bunch of clarifying questions.
ethbr1 2y ago
The Google Gemini "Allow me to reintroduce myself" ad is also hilarious. As in, right, re- introduce yourself... because the initial launch was such a hamfisted clusterfuck. Or the Meta ad that muses "Write me a training plan to run a marathon." Because finding a training plan (a five minute internet search) is the hardest, limiting step of that endeavor! Not the months of dedication and will to stick to it.
- disqard 2y ago
  It's the same as any other piece of tech-that-will-disrupt-X-industry: a good concrete example is EdTech, where the core premise is that making curriculum "moar fun" is all that's needed. Spoiler: education's biggest challenge is the need for sustained motivation, not shinier graphics (or interactive content (or AI-generated personalized content)).
  - consteval 2y ago
    Turns out motivation is a uniquely human quality. I've heard countless stories of teachers who "saved my life" from people. Haven't gotten that same kind of response from EdTech endeavors.
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      What people think teacher do: teach material What teachers actually do: address mental health blockers, help align resources where they're lacking at home, provide a positive environment that children can escape to, inspire children to want to learn, deal with any myriad of emergency issues that come up on a given day (e.g. how often does a coworker have a bathroom accident and need your help addressing it, in the middle of your presentation?)

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago

The ad is seen as so bad because its attempt to create some supposed "essential" use case is hilariously transparent. There's just a visceral disgust we have when we see things like these targeted at children. We know what they are. The takeaway from the ad is a step back and away from the idea that technology will make us better or improve our lives; Google comes across as crassly presenting something bad (or pointless at best) as some human good, when most people can see right through it as the worst kind of marketing, a new low point in 2 decades and change of tech companies insisting they're "changing the world" with some half-baked, MBA fuelled, ghoulish crap.

seoulmetro 2y ago
> when most people can see right through it as the worst kind of marketing No. Most people definitely cannot. Most people can't see through the weird diversity nuclear option on all large company marketing these days. "White, male, straight, most common denominator in many countries and YOU have the NERVE to think that we should market to you!?" It'd be hilarious if it weren't so weird to think that people are actively trying not to include the largest demographics.
- consteval 2y ago
  I think the reality is that the vast majority of media, period, is about and targeted to white people. If you were to take up ALL the media, you'd realize minorities are still very under represented. Also it makes people feel good when they're represented. White men won't admit that, because for them they're always represented. And when they're not its a problem, so clearly even they understand the power of representation. And, lastly, if you LOOK you can see white people are still in almost every ad. They're just not the only people in the ad. This is a problem of greed, the white man does not settle for anything less than 100%. Keep in mind I'm saying this as a white man. The world is truly made for us and our success. On the off-chance it's not this one time, we need to be okay with that and learn to get over it.
  - seoulmetro 2y ago
    This would be fine if the representation was accurate. It's not. >White men won't admit that, because for them they're always represented. No they aren't... what? People represented to the market before they represented for "moral dilemmas". >And, lastly, if you LOOK you can see white people are still in almost every ad. No, they aren't. That's the point of my comment. It's almost a meme that every company refuses to put a white straight male in advertised media. >The world is truly made for us and our success. You sound like you've taken a sip of the Koolaid. This entire comment is bizarre and wrong. I'm going to assume you also think cultural appropriation is an actual thing too?
    - consteval 2y ago
      I'm sorry, you're just wrong. White men are represented. In almost every TV show, EVEN the ones who promote diversity. I mean take a look at Disney's new star wars shows. All incredibly diverse and guess what - each one has white men in it. Again, same with the ads. Ads typically have multiple people in them. Usually at least one is white, typically more or most are white. But as I've iterated, white people are greedy. Anything less than 100% may as well be 0% to the eyes of a lot of white people. That's been the theme since the inception of the US.
      - seoulmetro 2y ago
        Ah I see you're just a racist. That makes sense. I guess numbers will continue to delude you.
        consteval 2y ago
        [flagged]
- techostritch 2y ago
  What are you on about? I can’t really dissect your words, but 60% of the worlds population is Asian. Like only 10% of the worlds population is white.
  - seoulmetro 2y ago
    I don't think you understand which markets Apple targets with their $1.5k phones. If they were marketing it for the masses it'd be vastly different. Obviously they're marketing it for Western nations.

IncreasePosts 2y ago

Even prompt engineering won't be necessary soon enough, where the AI can just ask a bunch of clarifying questions.

ethbr1 2y ago

The Google Gemini "Allow me to reintroduce myself" ad is also hilarious. As in, right, re- introduce yourself... because the initial launch was such a hamfisted clusterfuck. Or the Meta ad that muses "Write me a training plan to run a marathon." Because finding a training plan (a five minute internet search) is the hardest, limiting step of that endeavor! Not the months of dedication and will to stick to it.

disqard 2y ago
It's the same as any other piece of tech-that-will-disrupt-X-industry: a good concrete example is EdTech, where the core premise is that making curriculum "moar fun" is all that's needed. Spoiler: education's biggest challenge is the need for sustained motivation, not shinier graphics (or interactive content (or AI-generated personalized content)).
- consteval 2y ago
  Turns out motivation is a uniquely human quality. I've heard countless stories of teachers who "saved my life" from people. Haven't gotten that same kind of response from EdTech endeavors.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    What people think teacher do: teach material What teachers actually do: address mental health blockers, help align resources where they're lacking at home, provide a positive environment that children can escape to, inspire children to want to learn, deal with any myriad of emergency issues that come up on a given day (e.g. how often does a coworker have a bathroom accident and need your help addressing it, in the middle of your presentation?)