I want boring tech
To fight the threat of ChatGPT and other competing machine learning technologies based on GPT-3, Google is doubling down on AI. The first announcements under the new stategy are expected at Google I/O 2023.
I may be old school, but I'm not looking forward to these upcoming Google products and technologies.
As a user, my experience with the Google Assistant has been unimpressive. The features I tried work half of the times and waste my time in failed attempts at getting understood. When such localized features are rolled out at all to my country years later, that is.
So I'm not excited at the prospect of, say, an AI-enhanced Google Search experience.
I don't want a nice, perfectly idiomatic conversation with a chatbot that ends up recommending the usual shallow, keyword-stuffed, SEO-optimized crap of top search results. Maybe created by some ChatGPT-powered bot.
I want products and features created with traditional, boring software and hardware technologies. Something that works all of the times and consistently makes a difference in my productivity and ability to carry out tasks.
Here are a few Google product features that would make me jump with joy:
- Markdown in Gmail
- native Android support for full app data syncronization in the cloud, so seamless and compelling developers just can't say no
- enforcing the requirement that all new Android apps must work also on chromeOS
- true, substantial (at least 8X) optical zoom in Pixel phones
- native Docker support in chromeOS
- full Android app mirroring on chromeOS, not just messaging
Between Google chasing the latest hype, and advanced users always getting a back seat in product decisions, something tells me I'm not going to see any of these features anytime soon.
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