Re: Bungling Apple Lost the Plot on Texting

On 11/21/2024 10:00 PM, Warren wrote:

For a brief moment earlier this month, I thought an old acquaintance had
passed away. I was still groggy one morning when I checked my phone to
find a notification delivering the news. "Obituary shared,"ť the message
bluntly said, followed by his name. But when I opened my phone, I
learned that he was very much still alive. Apple's latest software
update was to blame: A new feature that uses AI to summarize iPhone
notifications had distorted the original text message. It wasn't my
acquaintance who had died, but a relative of his. That's whose obituary
I had received.
 These notification summaries are perhaps the most visible part of Apple
Intelligence, the company's long-awaited suite of AI features, which
officially began to roll out last month. (It's compatible with only
certain devices.) We are living in push-notification hell, and Apple
Intelligence promises to collapse the incessant stream of notifications
into pithy recaps. Instead of setting your iPhone aside while you shower
and returning to nine texts, four emails, and two calendar alerts, you
can now return to a few brief Apple Intelligence summaries.
 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/11/apple-
intelligence-text-messages/680717/
 Iphones are for stupid people.
 

   This was reported about a week ago on Slashdot. I liked the
example of the geek who got breakup texts from his girlfriend that
were synopsized as something like, "She's no longer in a relationship.
Wants her stuff back." The man commented that it was a good
synopsis. :)
   The problem here is not iPhones per se but rather the feverish
romance the public is having with so-called AI. Apple, predictably
lacking any principles, is jumping on AI to set iPhone apart. Even if AI
isn't really very useful, it will get overused until the fad wears out.
I found it more disturbing to read recently that people are making
AI software to help people write. Young people already don't
know how to use capitalization and punctuation. Now they won't
even learn to form thoughts. Their friends will text to ask, "Do
you want to join us at the concert tonight?" Then the recipient
can simply speak "Fuck that." into the AI software and it will send
a response, "Thanks, but I'm not really feeling up to it tonight."