This is the script of my national radio report yesterday on the topic
of the continuing push by Big Tech to force us to use generative AI,
including the horrific concept of "AI Agents". As always there may
have been minor wording variations from this script as I presented
this report live on air.
- - -
So it seems like we keep coming back to #AI topics, and that's only
because so many alarming aspects are coming out of Big Tech's large
language model generative AI development dungeons, that it's
increasingly difficult to keep up. But it's important to do so since
these AI systems being churned out by these firms are often
increasingly problematic to say the least.
You may recall that last week I mentioned how #Google is pushing their
Gemini AI onto user devices and feeding it with data from user apps
without even bothering to ask permission first. Very, very disturbing.
And I mentioned at the time that Google was on the cusp of ramming
Gemini into desktop Gmail as well. And just like some sort of
clockwork plot element from a a techno-horror movie, during last week
Google started pushing an obnoxious modal popup onto Gmail users
including desktop users, that you can't get past without yes or no to
a pair of confusing questions about "smart features" that actually are
about Gemini AI having access to your private email.
They're forcing you to make a snap decision on the spot without even
really being clear about the ramifications if you say yes to either
question. My strong recommendation, as you might guess, is to say NO
to both! It's also annoying that Google isn't honoring any prior Gmail
settings that said you didn't want "smart personalization" features.
It's possible to check to make sure your answers to this popup are
correct but they're buried several layers down in the Gmail settings
so it's pretty obvious Google doesn't really want us checking on that
stuff.
By the way, as a sidenote, the term "modal" in the context of popups
like these refers to the fact that they overlay what you're actually
trying to do and you can't continue your work until you interact as
demanded by the popup. So modals are often used to push users into
making quick decisions that they may come to regret later.
And yeah, the overall shapes of these AI systems are getting more and
more obnoxious. Google search AI Overviews are sometimes getting
really creepy now by assuming what you might mean -- and it's so often
wrong -- when you do a query on a few words. It often spews out a
screen full of often irrelevant or even invasive gunk that can send a
chill down your spine. We really don't need this.
But wait, it gets worse, MUCH worse! Because right now the Big Tech
purveyors of AI slop are really starting to roll out AI Agents. And AI
agents, in my opinion, are one of the worst ideas in the entire
history of computing technology reaching back to punched card days and
even earlier. Because the idea of AI agents is that you're going to
let these systems take full control of your computer or other device,
to browse for you, make purchase decisions for you, to substitute Big
Tech confused misinformation arrogance for your own decision making.
At the moment, these will usually go right up to the point where the
"pay now" button is about to be pressed and require your confirmation,
but we know where this is all leading. And given the way various of
these AI models make mistakes -- sometimes very serious ones --
because they don't really understand things as a human would even in
the best of circumstances, there is so VERY much that can go wrong
with these Agents. And that's even leaving aside other nightmare
scenarios (irrespective of protections that are supposed to be
present) of being hacked either through AI model prompt manipulation
or other forms of hacking including malware on users' own computers.
But Big Tech is plowing ahead because they've spent untold billions on
these AI systems, and they're going to try take us along for the ride
whether we want to be there -- or not.
- - -
L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
[email protected] (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
Signal: By request on need to know basis
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
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