“AI features” are the new bloatware
It seems like, suddenly, all of our gadgets have found a way to include “AI” features. I’ve even seen “AI” screen protectors, whatever those are.
The term “AI” has become very popular, but the features it is associated with are not new.
We’ve been here before
Now, I’m not some sort of Luddite who doesn’t understand how cutting-edge technologies like LLMs, vision systems, agentic AI, and all the other technologies that are now mature enough will have a massive impact on the world.
We don’t really talk about this aspect of the current AI boom. No, part of it is how companies are trying to apply this technology to everything they can think of to see what sticks. LLMs and other machine learning technologies are flexible tools, which means they are a hammer that makes everything look like a nail. That’s the only thing that explains why Microsoft, for example, thought it would be a good idea to implement a feature where an AI captures and examines your computer screen every few seconds to “help” you. They seemed surprised when people got too scared by the idea and had to back off, at least in part.
At least for now.
The flip side is the age-old marketing practice of adopting new buzzwords that the public doesn’t really understand. This is why you get “nanotech” detergent and “quantum” everything. Even if none of these terms have any activity near the product in question. This is the phase of AI we are in now.
An AI that no one asked for
Every phone, every operating system, everything with or without a screen seems to have some sort of app or feature that has “AI” in the name. Photo enhancers, voice note takers, writing assistants and much more. Some of these might be genuinely useful, but in many cases these features are built-in and don’t add any value. They just disrupt perfectly good workflows that people were already using without issue.
Some of this runs from the cloud, some runs locally. This may have an impact on device performance, but the impact on usability is much more problematic in my opinion. Just like the bloatware we know, unsubscribing, deleting, or disabling these items is intentionally tricky, if not downright impossible.
The illusion of intelligence
“Artificial intelligence” is a broad field that encompasses many different technologies, many of which have been around for decades. Various algorithms and other intelligent software and hardware devices are technically AI. AI is broader than machine learning, and some marketers have taken advantage of this by capitalizing on this technicality and the public perception that “AI” means something like ChatGPT or other sophisticated technologies related to it.
So facial recognition in camera apps or basic predictive text like we’ve always had may seem like “new” features because they get the “new look, same taste” treatment that breakfast cereals get every few years.
The hidden costs of embedded AI
As for “real” AI features that run locally on your computer. Well, whether you use it or not, you pay for it. It’s not like uninstalling Crushed candy from a fresh installation of Windows. That’s more than the cost of a CoPilot key on your new laptop. That special NPU chip in your computer or phone wasn’t free. So if you don’t take advantage of it, it’s to your detriment.
Besides the fact that most current NPUs are too weak to actually run anything substantial AI locally, computer makers can charge more money or make their computers seem more advanced than they are by calling them “AI” PCs.
Smarter user response is coming
Hopefully this phase won’t last too long. We’re not stupid, so people will learn to take any mention of “AI” with a pinch of salt and rolling their eyes. At some point, marketers will move on to another buzzword (quantum will probably come back) and this problem will solve itself. When it comes to “real” AI, the high-end stuff we need the cloud for right now, it will only be a matter of time.
At some point, models will be more efficient and local AI processors more powerful. When these meet the happy medium, then we should have access to AI features and technology that not only don’t make you dependent on a remote subscription, but can also do things that are actually useful, not a gimmick.
I’ve been annoyed by bloatware for as long as I can remember, but unless we suddenly develop some kind of post-capitalist utopia where there is no incentive to market, sell, and profit as much as possible, bloatware, whatever it is, will remain a reality.
