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The thing is, all they really have to do is add an off switch for AI features so they’re not taking up space in the UI and aren’t consuming any extra resources.

The thing is, all they really have to do is add an off switch for AI features so they’re not taking up space in the UI and aren’t consuming any extra resources. This toggle should also hide aggressive AI promotions in places like launch screens. That alone would be enough to make most with a distaste for AI happy. It doesn’t have to be binary, but no, it gets shoved down everybody’s throat whether it’s wanted or not, and that’s how you induce fatigue.

dheatov 27d ago
They shouldn't and they won't. That will introduce a new metric -- %user disabling AI, and it will definitely be non-zero, which threatens the "everyone loves AI" narrative, which is the only thing thats floating all the tech-related valuation right now.
- jasonjayr 26d ago
  They will interpret that metric as "they don't love AI YET,so lets throw more at them so they can see how wonderful it is" .....
- daishi55 26d ago
  How can you be so disconnected from reality? The valuations are based on the immense value of LLMs, which exists regardless of how consumers - who are very much not where the revenue is coming from - feel about it. I can see how much we are spending on Claude and codex at meta. Believe me, the AI company valuations are not coming from Microsoft word ai assistant.
  - account42 26d ago
    What immense value? Has it solved world hunger? Has it provided abundant clean energy that no one needs to worry about it? Has it taken care of people's basic needs so that they can be free of work and focus on what's rewarding for them?
ranger207 27d ago
Yes, it needs to not be shoved everywhere and try to rewrite your workflows constantly and that would be enough
bee_rider 26d ago
Although, some services have started labeling their old natural language processing functionality “AI,” and released additional “AI” features, so an off switch isn’t always possible. The options seem to be to lose previously existing functionality or gain current anti-features. In their defense “AI” is a pretty nebulous concept. Really what I want is a “give me 2020 software” toggle. But if we’re wishing, a 2010 toggle would also probably be nice…
- cosmic_cheese 26d ago
  > Really what I want is a “give me 2020 software” toggle. But if we’re wishing, a 2010 toggle would also probably be nice… No kidding. It feels like by some time around 2015 the majority of the commercial software development world gave up entirely on trying to improve value for users. Given the choice, there’s only a handful of software that I wouldn’t prefer the 2010-2015 version of.
  - account42 26d ago
    That's why for productivity software I vastly prefer open source. Sure it can be janky sometimes but at least I don't feel like I'm being fleeced and sold to the highest bidder.
AstralSerenity 25d ago
This is the exact approach Mozilla has taken to Firefox with the AI "killswitch". It has been well received.

dheatov 27d ago

They shouldn't and they won't. That will introduce a new metric -- %user disabling AI, and it will definitely be non-zero, which threatens the "everyone loves AI" narrative, which is the only thing thats floating all the tech-related valuation right now.

jasonjayr 26d ago
They will interpret that metric as "they don't love AI YET,so lets throw more at them so they can see how wonderful it is" .....
daishi55 26d ago
How can you be so disconnected from reality? The valuations are based on the immense value of LLMs, which exists regardless of how consumers - who are very much not where the revenue is coming from - feel about it. I can see how much we are spending on Claude and codex at meta. Believe me, the AI company valuations are not coming from Microsoft word ai assistant.
- account42 26d ago
  What immense value? Has it solved world hunger? Has it provided abundant clean energy that no one needs to worry about it? Has it taken care of people's basic needs so that they can be free of work and focus on what's rewarding for them?

ranger207 27d ago

Yes, it needs to not be shoved everywhere and try to rewrite your workflows constantly and that would be enough

bee_rider 26d ago

Although, some services have started labeling their old natural language processing functionality “AI,” and released additional “AI” features, so an off switch isn’t always possible. The options seem to be to lose previously existing functionality or gain current anti-features. In their defense “AI” is a pretty nebulous concept. Really what I want is a “give me 2020 software” toggle. But if we’re wishing, a 2010 toggle would also probably be nice…

cosmic_cheese 26d ago
> Really what I want is a “give me 2020 software” toggle. But if we’re wishing, a 2010 toggle would also probably be nice… No kidding. It feels like by some time around 2015 the majority of the commercial software development world gave up entirely on trying to improve value for users. Given the choice, there’s only a handful of software that I wouldn’t prefer the 2010-2015 version of.
- account42 26d ago
  That's why for productivity software I vastly prefer open source. Sure it can be janky sometimes but at least I don't feel like I'm being fleeced and sold to the highest bidder.

AstralSerenity 25d ago

This is the exact approach Mozilla has taken to Firefox with the AI "killswitch". It has been well received.