An Open Letter to Every Tech Company Forcing AI on Users
How many ways are there to say, "we don't want this"?
Dear Google, Meta, Adobe, and every other tech company who’s giddy about AI:
Do you have a new AI feature to tell us about? Let me just stop you right there.
I know you’ve launched a new AI feature, I promise. We ALL know about your AI project. In fact, we can’t figure out how to make it go away.
I do get it. Sometimes, you have something new to offer, and no one knows about it. You have to get it out there somehow, right? I may be an accidental marketer, but I know that launches are a part of growing a business.
How y’all are doing it, though? That ain’t it.
You say you’re raising your rates because of the “AI enhancements” you’ve added, when none of your users asked for them.
You have callouts and pop-overs constantly invading our screens, begging us to write with your new AI tool. And, no matter how many times I click “Dismiss,” it always comes back.
It’s like Clippy from the ‘90s version of Microsoft Word, except this time he’s also contributing to the global climate crisis.
And, the worst offense of all: you roll out features, making a ham-handed announcement as an afterthought. Then, we’re automatically opted into using them, whether we like it or not.
Wired had it right: the default should be Opt-IN, not Opt-Out.
While all of you look for features you can rebrand as AI-powered, to try and please your shareholders, we’re out here using every avenue we know to tell you that we don’t want this.
And maybe, if you’re really honest with yourselves, you know deep-down that it’s not nearly as valuable as you make it out to be. The “AI solutions” are hacky. They regularly spit out mistakes and act like your most sociopathic frenemy.
Maybe you’re shouting so loud about it because you’re afraid we’ll figure out that this technology is all smoke and mirrors.
Whatever it is, we, your audience, are tired of talking about it. We’re tired of being forced to use or pay for something we never wanted to begin with.
To paraphrase Regina George: stop trying to make AI happen. It’s not going to happen.
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