Dumb Questions Thread

[Tornado]

Why the heck are so many big companies seemingly forcing AI down our throats?

I hear AI is insanely resource intensive, and yet, I can't seem to find a way to turn off AI "assist" when searching with Google or Instagram. How the heck is AI supposed to be profitable or otherwise beneficial to these companies when they're expending so much energy per search, especially with the general distrust and backlash from the general public?

I feel like I'm missing something super obvious here, but I can't for the life of me figure out the what and how.

Sounds like you're asking for Opinions about a Current Event to me.

 

[Famine]

I can't seem to find a way to turn off AI "assist" when searching with Google

Add "-ai" to the end of your query or - in a slightly more amusing technique - put any expletive you wish into it.

 

[Liquid]

It would be nice for it to actually sod off and not be enabled per user preference though.

 

[W3H5]

It would be nice for it to actually sod off and not be enabled per user preference though.

If I remember right, there was an option to use the AI search & answer function when it was first introduced. I didn’t know it had become a staple feature. I actually benefit from the summaries quite a lot, so it hasn’t bothered me, also most of my searching is image search; my brain responds better to images than text.

 

[Joey D]

Why the heck are so many big companies seemingly forcing AI down our throats?

I hear AI is insanely resource intensive, and yet, I can't seem to find a way to turn off AI "assist" when searching with Google or Instagram. How the heck is AI supposed to be profitable or otherwise beneficial to these companies when they're expending so much energy per search, especially with the general distrust and backlash from the general public?

I feel like I'm missing something super obvious here, but I can't for the life of me figure out the what and how.

Money is the short answer.

The longer answer is that AI is the hot new thing so companies need to push it to make them seem like they're keeping up with the latest tech. Bigger companies like Google are pushing it because the users are the product. We're training the AI so it can get more accurate so then Google can turn around and sell that AI to smaller companies to use so that those smaller companies can say "look at what we have."

AI will likely fizzle out when the next shiny thing comes along and it'll end up like VR, something that exists but isn't exactly useful for most of the population.

 

[Exorcet]

Money is the short answer.

The longer answer is that AI is the hot new thing so companies need to push it to make them seem like they're keeping up with the latest tech.

That and they also want the brand association. Google/OpenAI/etc all want their AI offerings to be what people associate with the term "AI" so they can be dominant in the market and control where the technology goes and take in all the profit.

AI will likely fizzle out when the next shiny thing comes along and it'll end up like VR, something that exists but isn't exactly useful for most of the population.

I don't think AI will end up being a fad, I see it more akin to computers in the 80's. It's likely going to become a staple piece of technology.