The Rise of 'Smart' and 'AI': Not-So-Impressed Perspective

Let’s talk about it – everything’s gone smart, everything’s gone AI, and it’s low-key annoying, right? 🙄

With the advent of the smartphone, I couldn’t help but wonder, is this really “smart”? I mean, it’s a computer, and it’s not exactly Einstein. It’s got an alarm that’s far from smart, a search engine that’s not exactly a genius, and apps that are, well, not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. For me, real “intelligence” would be my phone checking the weather and traffic in my area and waking me up earlier if it thinks I might be running late. Not just an alarm I snooze five times every morning. So, the term “smartphone” seems, at the very least, a bit pretentious.

Then came the apps, all throwing around the word “smart” like it’s confetti at a party. Smart face recognition, smart text summarizers, smart search engines – are we getting closer to rocket science here? Nah, I don’t think so.

But now, it’s all about AI. We started with AI in our camera apps to fix colors, and now, thanks to ChatGPT, everything’s got an AI chat feature. I mean, seriously, AI in Word, in Edge, in banking apps, email apps… do we really need an AI-powered section just to search for an email?

We’ve gone from typing “Electricity Bill November 2022” in the search bar to writing, “Can you please find me any electricity bill from last year in November that has a PDF attached? Thanks!” in a chat window next to the email toolbar.

Maybe I’m just getting too old for this stuff, or maybe it’s not for me. Perhaps, from now on, I’ll start saying, “Things were better in my day.” 😅

Is this a rant? Is this a complaint? You bet it is! 🤷‍♂️