Technology

They were always weird but it is getting to the point where even normies are taking notice.

All that sex traffic that occurs for their event alone make it an abomination.

My best friend, the Uber driver, which I prefer to shut up all the way home. But hey, what are friends for, he keeps me hydrated!

Ever since I moved to an ad-reduced life, everything has been nicer. I can't completely escape them, they are everywhere. But minimizing with ublock and pihole helps, then only using video services that don't have ads. Unfortunately, a lot have added ads, so I have quit those. I'll pay extra for ad-free, just because ads make my life so miserable.

I can't watch broadcast TV, it's too irritating. I can't browse the web on a device outside my network or phone. I don't use free apps. Hell, I don't listen to the radio.

I like to think it has made me a calmer person.

Which they will unceremoniously murder after it fails to get enough traction in a month after launch.

Hey, my buddy's work is already doing that! Management no longer has any idea what the company does, but they know how often you click. It boils down to a decimal number, which is what they really need. Higher numbers are better.

You should've asked Gemini what to feel about it and how to response...

I’m curious, if they had gone to their parent, gave them the same info, and come to the same message… would it have been less cheap feeling?

And do you know that isn’t the case? “Hey mom, I’m trying to write something nice to my teacher, this is what I have but it feels weird can you make a suggestion?” Is a perfectly reasonable thing to have happened.

The article makes a mention of the early part of the movie Her, where he's writing a heartfelt, personal card that turns out to be his job, writing from one stranger to another. That reference was exactly on target: I think most of us thought outsourcing such a thing was a completely bizarre idea, and it is. It's maybe even worse if you're not even outsourcing to someone with emotions but to an AI.

If I was in some sort of distress and someone sent me a comforting message and I later found out they had ChatGPT write the message for them I think I would abandon the friendship as a pointless endeavor

My initial response is the same as yours, but I wonder... If the intent was to comfort you and the effect was to comfort you, wasn't the message effective? How is it different from using a cell phone to get a reminder about a friend's birthday rather than memorizing when the birthday is?

One problem that both the AI message and the birthday reminder have is that they don't require much effort. People apparently appreciate having effort expended on their behalf even if it doesn't create any useful result. This is why I'm currently making a two-hour round trip to bring a birthday cake to my friend instead of simply telling her to pick the one she wants, have it delivered, and bill me. (She has covid so we can't celebrate together.) I did make the mistake of telling my friend that I had a reminder in my phone for this, so now she knows I didn't expend the effort to memorize the date.

Another problem that only the AI message has is that it doesn't contain information that the receiver wants to know, which is the specific mental state of the sender rather than just the presence of an intent to comfort. Presumably if the receiver wanted a message from an AI, she would have asked the AI for it herself.

Anyway, those are my Asperger's musings. The next time a friend needs comforting, I will tell her "I wish you well. Ask an AI for inspirational messages appropriate for these circumstances."

I would abandon the friendship as a pointless endeavor

You're in luck, you can subscribe to an AI friend instead. ~/s~

These seem like people who treat relationships like a game or an obligation instead of really wanting to know the person.

The thing they're trying to market is a lot of people genuinely don't know what to say at certain times. Instead of replacing an emotional activity, its meant to be used when you literally can't do it but need to.

Obviously that's not the way it should go, but it is an actual problem they're trying to talk to. I had a friend feel real down in high school because his parents didn't attend an award ceremony, and I couldn't help cause I just didn't know what to say. AI could've hypothetically given me a rough draft or inspiration. Obviously I wouldn't have just texted what the AI said, but it could've gotten me past the part I was stuck on.

In my experience, AI is shit at that anyway. 9 times out of 10 when I ask it anything even remotely deep it restates the problem like "I'm sorry to hear your parents couldn't make it". AI can't really solve the problem google wants it to, and I'm honestly glad it can't.

But that would imply that it can be relied upon for accuracy.

Hate to say it, but Kagi is not great. Both in results and in stewardship.

Proton recently introduced an AI "writing assistant" for emails called Scribe and a bitcoin wallet sadly.

It should be like a core memory for the kid to do this with her dad. It's like having an LLM to play catch or do tea parties with her.

It teaches the kid to rely more and more on AI for everything, just like Google wants.

They're already 'thanking' siri and alexa, this will be a very dangerous development.

You… you joke, but I know a few parents who would absolutely fail at something like this. Hell, they fail at basic math, and are barely literate.

I’m not saying this is a great idea for everyone, or that the ad is good. But the idea that “no one needs this” is extremely short sighted. For god sakes, the literacy rate in America alone isn’t even 95%, and over 50% of Americans aren’t proficient in English.

Again. This ad sucks for lots of reasons. But don’t pretend idiots can’t make it through adulthood, never mind become parents. The idiots are usually the ones with the most kids.