6 ms·

I think this is mostly just a problem of not having good reasons to sell AI products to consumers in the first place. I recently saw some Ray Ban Meta glasses

by devin 2y ago

I think this is mostly just a problem of not having good reasons to sell AI products to consumers in the first place. I recently saw some Ray Ban Meta glasses ads. One of them had a guy ask the glasses to describe what was in front of his face, and then he remarked “wow that’s accurate” (there are people skateboarding). The guy wasn’t blind. His use of the glasses made little sense. Another ad has a young man asking his glasses how to dress for fall and then blindly following the suggestions like they’ve never dressed themselves before. It was embarrassing to watch. A third ad has someone ask their glasses how to decorate for a disco theme party, and then they implement the very mediocre suggestions. None of these things required AI, it’s just kind of “there”, and companies are like “idk maybe people will use our AI to like… dress themselves? or something?”

jfoster 2y ago
No way! There are definitely legitimate use-cases for all of the features demoed in these ads, but Apple's marketing took a darker path. Email to boss: could've been someone who had a genuine struggle with language using it to finally get their boss to notice the effort they put into their work. Remembering a name: could've used it to get the name and left it at them being impressed rather than making it a lie. Summarizing email: could've used it when in a hurry at work whilst someone sent an extremely long email. Video memories: could've used it for two people to share a nostalgic moment together without making it a lie.
- briandear 2y ago
  Ernest Hemingway once said, “I’m sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time for a shorter one.” With Apple Intelligence, now you do.
  - B56b 2y ago
    That's a Blaise Pascal quote actually.
  - BobaFloutist 2y ago
    Why would I take the time to read a letter you couldn't be bothered to take the time to write?
    - phil-martin 2y ago
      Because they took the time to write a long letter, and were thoughtful enough to have it shortened to save you time when reading it?
    - xp84 2y ago
      Silly! You’re meant to have your AI read it and summarize it for you, of course!
- consf 2y ago
  The marketing goes for flashy scenarios
  - jfoster 2y ago
    My writing ability might not be good enough to make them flashy here on HN, but I am sure that each of the scenarios could be made very flashy or moving with a bit of imagination & Apple's still-excellent production quality. One of my favourite ads is a very simple story that is made gut-wrenching by creating an emotional connection and some great production value: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U
- philistine 2y ago
  The fact that lying is a core element of the ads is what makes them so gross to me. The guys says he's surprised she remembers him. She could just look straight at the camera, say what can I say, I'm very intelligent, wink, and it wouldn't be gross.
  - jfoster 2y ago
    Right, there's so many ways that they could have made these characters slightly less lazy & deceptive and it would've been fine. It's not the first Apple ad to be in poor taste this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGyOIFRJPII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGyOIFRJPII
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
candiddevmike 2y ago
Sounds like a repeat of blockchain hype. Biggest threat here is replacing the cultural zeitgeist of "let me google that for you" with "let me GPT that for you".
solaris152000 2y ago
Yesterday I was walking in Greece and saw a sign I couldn't read so asked my Meta glasses and it gave me a translation and short explanation quickly, which was very helpful. But generally, yes the uses aren't there. In the Apple AI video, the worst is that the 'more professional' text, actually reads much less professional. If someone in a business situation sends you an AI generated email (and it's obviously AI it's so easy to tell) it makes it seem like they are unable to write English properly, giving the opposite impression than intended.
- pavlov 2y ago
  Sounds like it’s time for an AI that writes emails like a busy tech executive: “no big deal. get it done. steve”
- jsheard 2y ago
  > Yesterday I was walking in Greece and saw a sign I couldn't read so asked my Meta glasses and it gave me a translation and short explanation quickly, which was very helpful. Like other attempts at AI wearables like the Rabbit and Humane pins, I think that falls under "maybe useful but why wouldn't I just do the same thing with the phone that I'm carrying anyway".
  - vundercind 2y ago
    - AR is very promising for both work and play, but is worthless shit if you have to hold a device to use it. Instantly 100x better if you've got hypothetical near-future non-terrible AR glasses on most of the day. - Half of what people use the Web for is looking up trivia that would have been too high-cost to look up before, to bother with (most of the other half is posting on social media about it). Glasses further lower the cost of looking up many categories of trivia, making even more trivial pieces of knowledge cheap enough to look up. On a revealed-preference basis, this seems to be something people really like and find irritating when denied—nobody used to feel an itch when they couldn't find an answer to some fleeting trivial question that entered their mind. Once exposed to the Web, and even more so when smartphones were introduced and the Web became something you carried everywhere, they do, and it'll be the same for answering questions about stuff they're looking at, once used to glasses. - The use case of capturing otherwise-missed (getting out the phone is too slow) fleeting once-ever moments is going to be very compelling for people.
tiltowait 2y ago
> One of them had a guy ask the glasses to describe what was in front of his face, and then he remarked “wow that’s accurate” (there are people skateboarding). The guy wasn’t blind. His use of the glasses made little sense. On the other hand, this is a pretty common scenario: user is surprised when AI gets something right :) Not sure it’s the best showcase of a product, though …
ffsm8 2y ago
Maybe this will convince you? https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc?si=IdlMNjydYgbZH_6n https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc?si=IdlMNjydYgbZH_6n
- jareklupinski 2y ago
  maybe this will finally get people to actually be able to say my name :,)
- majewsky 2y ago
  Same link without tracking: https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc
InDubioProRubio 2y ago
Chat GPT what should i wear, if i were emperor? "Most emperors in my stories are going out naked."
consf 2y ago
[dead]
bryanlarsen 2y ago
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses seem like they're actually gaining moderately useful abilities. https://www.androidpolice.com/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-5-top-features/ https://www.androidpolice.com/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-5-t... Why not highlight those in the ad rather than the useless stuff?
boplicity 2y ago
The problem with "AI" is that when it is well integrated, and useful, it is often invisible to the user. Many people, for example, benefit from automatic (and instant) transcriptions in live Zoom meetings. This is pretty much complete magic -- and yet, boring. You don't notice it. You focus on the result, which you need, rather than the fact that it's "AI."
- cut3 2y ago
  This is my current belief as well. Ive designed many features with AI models and it wasn't until we recently branded those features with an AI personified name that users (and wall street) noticed.
kraig911 2y ago
I feel the ads I've seen are precisely what you say. I will say this though I have a kid on the spectrum and if I could teach her how to integrate her thoughts with the glasses it may help her in social settings. But for others who simply already know I, like you, don't see the value.
ryandrake 2y ago
This is what always happens when you have a technology and then desperately try to find problems to solve with it. Rather than starting with a problem and then applying the most appropriate technology to solve it. The exact same thing happened with Blockchain, but "AI" has about 100x more hype behind it.
- paul7986 2y ago
  I think people present day do not understand how to really use AI.. understand how it can benefit their life. The commercial the OP speaks and the ad agency sounds lame as they arent helping. Personally Ive been enjoying wearing my Ray Bans for the past year and have used them to do things no other glasses can like... - Translate.... was in Canada recently and a sign about Jasper the town i was in was in French. I asked Meta to translate it... it took a pic and audibly translated it for me. - Was in Harpers Ferry WV on an overlook ..looking down into the town of Harpers Ferry which has a huge church which i have no idea it's name yet ask Meta what church is that over there. Took a pic and told me. - Was in line at HersheyPark up on a platform and my friend wondered how many people you think are in line so i asked Meta and it took a pic and gave me an estimate.
  - dbalatero 2y ago
    I appreciate you might find value in these things, but each example I read just gets less and less compelling. Translation does seem mildly useful, the other things feels like information I can live with or without. E.g. these aren't burning problems in my life. Even the translation, I'm happy to just be in the dark, or take a phone pic and translate if I really really need to. Having everpresent AI tech on my face doesn't seem worth it if these are the kinds of problems I get solved.
    - paul7986 2y ago
      Well if you use sunglasses and pull out your phone to take pics, videos and see the time ... using the glasses to do all those things (even without having your phone on you) makes a lot more sense (quicker and easier).
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ncr100 2y ago
> mostly just a problem of not having good reasons I disagree, I think this is bad ethics, and bad marketing people, working for Apple...what other explanation - same people crushed musical instruments and books, human craft-work -- using a hydraulic press, in a recent Apple advert. Advertising certainly can show outrageous ways to behave, and it's "okay". Calling someone and simply shouting WAZZZAAAAAAP! into the cell phone, for the famous Budweiser advert during the superbowl...derives into a crew of 3-5 people shouting AAAAAAAAAAAZZZAAA into their phones, oddly. That was cute .... However this is about enabling through lying. In one ADVERT it makes a Manager believe an Employee is more engaged than they truly are, rewriting their unprofessional language using the new "Professional" button, reasonably leading to a future misallocation of resources by the manager to the irresponsible seemingly under-skilled or simply lazy unethical employee. What's worse is the people who are NOT using Apple products to lie. The Employees who did not lie about their grip on written language now have to compete with AI, wielded by their ill-behaved coworker. It stratifies society into Idiocracy. This is a TERRIFYING series of advertisements chosen by Apple.
- vundercind 2y ago
  The signaling value of knowing how to writey words good is dead. More dead even than a coffin-nail, and assuredly that of a door (thanks, Dickens). Signaling through speaking will become even more important. Get thy children to debate club, seminar-based classes (hope you're rich!), theater, and hell, I dunno, ToastMasters Junior or whatever.
  - sizzle 2y ago
    You know they can use those AI generated words to create an outline of talking points right? That too is also going to be dead if we follow that logic.
    - vundercind 2y ago
      Talking points only go so far in conversation or argument. Hell, even in a presentation or speech.
- 2y ago
wruza 2y ago
Not unique to AI, honestly. If I try to watch a technical review on a smartphone, they’ll still talk about camera megapixels, screen size/brightness, corners, etc. No one talks about scroll sensitivity and jankiness, [bad] position of buttons on screen and on the frame, sensor nuances, how it feels in a pocket, can it work as a display, notification sounds and sound level separation, etc. All marketing, including third-party based, focuses on absolutely basic features for abstract people who do nothing and have no problems to solve apart from taking pics of themselves and other two-digit iq activities. I guess it’s only logical for this image to walk into a skate park and ask their glasses about what these guys are doing.
- fennecbutt 2y ago
  Tbf I think this is why hardware/software has gotten so bad. The focus is on what it looks like and not how it's used

by devin 2y ago

jfoster 2y ago

No way! There are definitely legitimate use-cases for all of the features demoed in these ads, but Apple's marketing took a darker path. Email to boss: could've been someone who had a genuine struggle with language using it to finally get their boss to notice the effort they put into their work. Remembering a name: could've used it to get the name and left it at them being impressed rather than making it a lie. Summarizing email: could've used it when in a hurry at work whilst someone sent an extremely long email. Video memories: could've used it for two people to share a nostalgic moment together without making it a lie.

briandear 2y ago
Ernest Hemingway once said, “I’m sorry for the long letter, I didn’t have time for a shorter one.” With Apple Intelligence, now you do.
- B56b 2y ago
  That's a Blaise Pascal quote actually.
- BobaFloutist 2y ago
  Why would I take the time to read a letter you couldn't be bothered to take the time to write?
  - phil-martin 2y ago
    Because they took the time to write a long letter, and were thoughtful enough to have it shortened to save you time when reading it?
  - xp84 2y ago
    Silly! You’re meant to have your AI read it and summarize it for you, of course!
consf 2y ago
The marketing goes for flashy scenarios
- jfoster 2y ago
  My writing ability might not be good enough to make them flashy here on HN, but I am sure that each of the scenarios could be made very flashy or moving with a bit of imagination & Apple's still-excellent production quality. One of my favourite ads is a very simple story that is made gut-wrenching by creating an emotional connection and some great production value: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U
philistine 2y ago
The fact that lying is a core element of the ads is what makes them so gross to me. The guys says he's surprised she remembers him. She could just look straight at the camera, say what can I say, I'm very intelligent, wink, and it wouldn't be gross.
- jfoster 2y ago
  Right, there's so many ways that they could have made these characters slightly less lazy & deceptive and it would've been fine. It's not the first Apple ad to be in poor taste this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGyOIFRJPII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGyOIFRJPII

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

candiddevmike 2y ago

Sounds like a repeat of blockchain hype. Biggest threat here is replacing the cultural zeitgeist of "let me google that for you" with "let me GPT that for you".

solaris152000 2y ago

Yesterday I was walking in Greece and saw a sign I couldn't read so asked my Meta glasses and it gave me a translation and short explanation quickly, which was very helpful. But generally, yes the uses aren't there. In the Apple AI video, the worst is that the 'more professional' text, actually reads much less professional. If someone in a business situation sends you an AI generated email (and it's obviously AI it's so easy to tell) it makes it seem like they are unable to write English properly, giving the opposite impression than intended.

pavlov 2y ago
Sounds like it’s time for an AI that writes emails like a busy tech executive: “no big deal. get it done. steve”
jsheard 2y ago
> Yesterday I was walking in Greece and saw a sign I couldn't read so asked my Meta glasses and it gave me a translation and short explanation quickly, which was very helpful. Like other attempts at AI wearables like the Rabbit and Humane pins, I think that falls under "maybe useful but why wouldn't I just do the same thing with the phone that I'm carrying anyway".
- vundercind 2y ago
  - AR is very promising for both work and play, but is worthless shit if you have to hold a device to use it. Instantly 100x better if you've got hypothetical near-future non-terrible AR glasses on most of the day. - Half of what people use the Web for is looking up trivia that would have been too high-cost to look up before, to bother with (most of the other half is posting on social media about it). Glasses further lower the cost of looking up many categories of trivia, making even more trivial pieces of knowledge cheap enough to look up. On a revealed-preference basis, this seems to be something people really like and find irritating when denied—nobody used to feel an itch when they couldn't find an answer to some fleeting trivial question that entered their mind. Once exposed to the Web, and even more so when smartphones were introduced and the Web became something you carried everywhere, they do, and it'll be the same for answering questions about stuff they're looking at, once used to glasses. - The use case of capturing otherwise-missed (getting out the phone is too slow) fleeting once-ever moments is going to be very compelling for people.

tiltowait 2y ago

> One of them had a guy ask the glasses to describe what was in front of his face, and then he remarked “wow that’s accurate” (there are people skateboarding). The guy wasn’t blind. His use of the glasses made little sense. On the other hand, this is a pretty common scenario: user is surprised when AI gets something right :) Not sure it’s the best showcase of a product, though …

ffsm8 2y ago

Maybe this will convince you? https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc?si=IdlMNjydYgbZH_6n https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc?si=IdlMNjydYgbZH_6n

jareklupinski 2y ago
maybe this will finally get people to actually be able to say my name :,)
majewsky 2y ago
Same link without tracking: https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc https://youtu.be/zvbTDUSz8Cc

InDubioProRubio 2y ago

Chat GPT what should i wear, if i were emperor? "Most emperors in my stories are going out naked."

consf 2y ago

[dead]

bryanlarsen 2y ago

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses seem like they're actually gaining moderately useful abilities. https://www.androidpolice.com/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-5-top-features/ https://www.androidpolice.com/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-5-t... Why not highlight those in the ad rather than the useless stuff?

boplicity 2y ago

The problem with "AI" is that when it is well integrated, and useful, it is often invisible to the user. Many people, for example, benefit from automatic (and instant) transcriptions in live Zoom meetings. This is pretty much complete magic -- and yet, boring. You don't notice it. You focus on the result, which you need, rather than the fact that it's "AI."

cut3 2y ago
This is my current belief as well. Ive designed many features with AI models and it wasn't until we recently branded those features with an AI personified name that users (and wall street) noticed.

kraig911 2y ago

I feel the ads I've seen are precisely what you say. I will say this though I have a kid on the spectrum and if I could teach her how to integrate her thoughts with the glasses it may help her in social settings. But for others who simply already know I, like you, don't see the value.

ryandrake 2y ago

This is what always happens when you have a technology and then desperately try to find problems to solve with it. Rather than starting with a problem and then applying the most appropriate technology to solve it. The exact same thing happened with Blockchain, but "AI" has about 100x more hype behind it.

paul7986 2y ago
I think people present day do not understand how to really use AI.. understand how it can benefit their life. The commercial the OP speaks and the ad agency sounds lame as they arent helping. Personally Ive been enjoying wearing my Ray Bans for the past year and have used them to do things no other glasses can like... - Translate.... was in Canada recently and a sign about Jasper the town i was in was in French. I asked Meta to translate it... it took a pic and audibly translated it for me. - Was in Harpers Ferry WV on an overlook ..looking down into the town of Harpers Ferry which has a huge church which i have no idea it's name yet ask Meta what church is that over there. Took a pic and told me. - Was in line at HersheyPark up on a platform and my friend wondered how many people you think are in line so i asked Meta and it took a pic and gave me an estimate.
- dbalatero 2y ago
  I appreciate you might find value in these things, but each example I read just gets less and less compelling. Translation does seem mildly useful, the other things feels like information I can live with or without. E.g. these aren't burning problems in my life. Even the translation, I'm happy to just be in the dark, or take a phone pic and translate if I really really need to. Having everpresent AI tech on my face doesn't seem worth it if these are the kinds of problems I get solved.
  - paul7986 2y ago
    Well if you use sunglasses and pull out your phone to take pics, videos and see the time ... using the glasses to do all those things (even without having your phone on you) makes a lot more sense (quicker and easier).

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

ncr100 2y ago

> mostly just a problem of not having good reasons I disagree, I think this is bad ethics, and bad marketing people, working for Apple...what other explanation - same people crushed musical instruments and books, human craft-work -- using a hydraulic press, in a recent Apple advert. Advertising certainly can show outrageous ways to behave, and it's "okay". Calling someone and simply shouting WAZZZAAAAAAP! into the cell phone, for the famous Budweiser advert during the superbowl...derives into a crew of 3-5 people shouting AAAAAAAAAAAZZZAAA into their phones, oddly. That was cute .... However this is about enabling through lying. In one ADVERT it makes a Manager believe an Employee is more engaged than they truly are, rewriting their unprofessional language using the new "Professional" button, reasonably leading to a future misallocation of resources by the manager to the irresponsible seemingly under-skilled or simply lazy unethical employee. What's worse is the people who are NOT using Apple products to lie. The Employees who did not lie about their grip on written language now have to compete with AI, wielded by their ill-behaved coworker. It stratifies society into Idiocracy. This is a TERRIFYING series of advertisements chosen by Apple.

vundercind 2y ago
The signaling value of knowing how to writey words good is dead. More dead even than a coffin-nail, and assuredly that of a door (thanks, Dickens). Signaling through speaking will become even more important. Get thy children to debate club, seminar-based classes (hope you're rich!), theater, and hell, I dunno, ToastMasters Junior or whatever.
- sizzle 2y ago
  You know they can use those AI generated words to create an outline of talking points right? That too is also going to be dead if we follow that logic.
  - vundercind 2y ago
    Talking points only go so far in conversation or argument. Hell, even in a presentation or speech.
2y ago

wruza 2y ago

Not unique to AI, honestly. If I try to watch a technical review on a smartphone, they’ll still talk about camera megapixels, screen size/brightness, corners, etc. No one talks about scroll sensitivity and jankiness, [bad] position of buttons on screen and on the frame, sensor nuances, how it feels in a pocket, can it work as a display, notification sounds and sound level separation, etc. All marketing, including third-party based, focuses on absolutely basic features for abstract people who do nothing and have no problems to solve apart from taking pics of themselves and other two-digit iq activities. I guess it’s only logical for this image to walk into a skate park and ask their glasses about what these guys are doing.

fennecbutt 2y ago
Tbf I think this is why hardware/software has gotten so bad. The focus is on what it looks like and not how it's used