Frank Zappa offers a possible mission statement for Microsoft back in 1976, a few months after the company is founded.
Most people won’t pay for AI voluntarily—just 8% according to a recent survey. So they need to bundle it with some other essential product.
You never get to decide.
Before proceeding let me ask a simple question: Has there ever been a major innovation that helped society, but only 8% of the public would pay for it?
That’s never happened before in human history. Everybody wanted electricity in their homes. Everybody wanted a radio. Everybody wanted a phone. Everybody wanted a refrigerator. Everybody wanted a TV set. Everybody wanted the Internet.
They wanted it. They paid for it. They enjoyed it.
AI isn’t like that. People distrust it or even hate it—and more so with each passing month. So the purveyors must bundle it into current offerings, and force usage that way. (...)
Let me address a final question—which is the frequently mentioned argument that the US needs to develop AI as fast as possible to get there before the Chinese.
I’m not sure where there is. But I’m happy to let China or other countries arrive at that unhappy destination while I wait behind and watch.
I’m absolutely certain that getting there will be a matter of great regret. There might even be the last place you would want to be. So I’d rather it happened as far away from here as possible.
by Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker | Read more:
Image: Frank Zappa/uncredited
[ed. 100 percent. So sick of having AI jammed down my throat at every turn. Especially when the product being pushed is so buggy, unreliable, and dangerous. Also: smart anythings...tvs, appliances, phones, home security systems, etc., and don't even get me started on touchscreens vs. buttons (see also: Why buttons are back in fashion (Cybernews).]
