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I don’t think Apple was too late at all. In all the hype, nobody asks “how does this help $family_member in their day to day”. I’ve used generative AI to help

I don’t think Apple was too late at all. In all the hype, nobody asks “how does this help $family_member in their day to day”. I’ve used generative AI to help with writing documents and code. I think it’s fun for creating and modifying images. As someone with no creative talent, Photoshop has been quite fun to use. But frankly, AI is completely useless in almost every way I see it implemented. I cannot see my grandparents, my mom, or my brother use it for anything practical. Everyone’s rushing to flesh out an investor slide deck without taking a moment to think: “but how can this actually be used in someone’s day-to-day” I’ve enjoyed Apple’s extremely conservative approach so far — they’ve kept it mostly practical. For example, let’s take the photos app. Just being able to search for “(dogs name) lake” and having images of my dog near a lake is day-to-day useful. Another example is their introduction of writing tools to proofread blocks of text. My parents already use Spellcheck and Grammar check, this feels like the next step up. Compare this to Samsung who took the SV Venture-Fund-appeal-style route and blasted “AI” everywhere they can call a function or put a button. Or Microsoft, who’s Copilot story is focused on imprinting keys on keyboards without answering “how does this help the end user” This hype around AI is gaudy. Nearly every implementation feels cheap, half-baked, and obnoxious. If Apple’s skepticism of implementing AI so far is “late”, late is not a bad thing at all as an end user. (All that said, Genmoji looks incredibly stupid and I’m wondering what they were thinking with this…)

thejazzman 2y ago
I suspect we don't want it in our day to day, removing human interaction? But it is being used in day to regardless. Eg picking the next song to play. It seems to excel at helping people do their jobs, double checking their work, etc. It's maddening since it makes constant mistakes. But Apple should be utilizing this to make HomeKit as magical as promised -- rather than automating email, which is basically the lowest hanging copy and paste able fruit available
linotype 2y ago
You don’t see how an always available generative agent that could help monitor for cognitive decline and offer relief from loneliness could be helpful for the elderly?
- Kirby64 2y ago
  Relief from loneliness? Maybe in the short term, but it sure seems like relying on a chat bot as a “friend” is likely to lead to even more isolation and loneliness long term, not more. Just take a look at the folks interacting with the “AI girlfriends”. It’s sad, really.
digging 2y ago
From my perspective, > This hype around AI is gaudy. Nearly every implementation feels cheap, half-baked, and obnoxious. is true but does not imply: > AI is completely useless in almost every way I see it implemented which is not true. It's just harder to get real value out of it than junk. And it's a completely new "skill" to get value out of LLMs which most of us aren't learning.
- redserk 2y ago
  But why bother learning this as a skill? The time value simply does not exist despite the tech-bubble’s hype. Let’s look at real-world usage. Two of the most grueling tasks most people encounter in a year are filing taxes and understanding contracts. LLMs can ingest a lot of data to help in both scenarios, but whatever it advises is useless until a company accepts liability for it’s output.

thejazzman 2y ago

I suspect we don't want it in our day to day, removing human interaction? But it is being used in day to regardless. Eg picking the next song to play. It seems to excel at helping people do their jobs, double checking their work, etc. It's maddening since it makes constant mistakes. But Apple should be utilizing this to make HomeKit as magical as promised -- rather than automating email, which is basically the lowest hanging copy and paste able fruit available

linotype 2y ago

You don’t see how an always available generative agent that could help monitor for cognitive decline and offer relief from loneliness could be helpful for the elderly?

Kirby64 2y ago
Relief from loneliness? Maybe in the short term, but it sure seems like relying on a chat bot as a “friend” is likely to lead to even more isolation and loneliness long term, not more. Just take a look at the folks interacting with the “AI girlfriends”. It’s sad, really.

digging 2y ago

From my perspective, > This hype around AI is gaudy. Nearly every implementation feels cheap, half-baked, and obnoxious. is true but does not imply: > AI is completely useless in almost every way I see it implemented which is not true. It's just harder to get real value out of it than junk. And it's a completely new "skill" to get value out of LLMs which most of us aren't learning.

redserk 2y ago
But why bother learning this as a skill? The time value simply does not exist despite the tech-bubble’s hype. Let’s look at real-world usage. Two of the most grueling tasks most people encounter in a year are filing taxes and understanding contracts. LLMs can ingest a lot of data to help in both scenarios, but whatever it advises is useless until a company accepts liability for it’s output.