I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.
rkomorn•1h ago
I guess it depends on your definition of "intrusive".
I have no interest in any of the AI features that have been added to the UIs of Meta products (WhatsApp, and Messenger), yet still see prompts for them and modified UIs to try and get me to engage with Meta AI.
Same goes with Gemini poking its head into various spots in the UIs of the Google products I use.
There are now UI spots I can accidentally tap/click and get dropped into a chat with an AI in various things I use on a daily basis.
There are also more "calls to action" for AI features, more "hey do you wanna try AI here?" prompts, etc.
It's not just the addition of AI features, it's all the modern, transparent desperation-for-metrics-to-go-up UX bits that come with it.
And yes, some of these things were around before this wave of AI launches, but a- that doesn't make it better, and b- all the AI features are seemingly the same across apps, so now we have bunches of apps all pushing the same "feature" at us.
gardenerik•1h ago
I agree with you that the push towards them is annoying. (Google's "Your phone has new exciting features.")
In this case, Calibre does not seem to introduce any said annoyances (probably because it is FOSS, so no pressure for adoption), but people are upset anyways.
There are many features I don't use in various software, but it never made me complain that a new icon/menu entry appeared.
rkomorn•1h ago
I think there are "classes" of features people have disliked. Eg: every social media app added "stories" at some point, using up screen real estate. Same goes with "shorts/reels/etc".
It's one thing when a feature gets added to an app.
It's another thing when it happens in a context where every app is doing it (or something similar), and you see it in every facet of your tech life.
gardenerik•1h ago
rkomorn•1h ago
I have no interest in any of the AI features that have been added to the UIs of Meta products (WhatsApp, and Messenger), yet still see prompts for them and modified UIs to try and get me to engage with Meta AI.
Same goes with Gemini poking its head into various spots in the UIs of the Google products I use.
There are now UI spots I can accidentally tap/click and get dropped into a chat with an AI in various things I use on a daily basis.
There are also more "calls to action" for AI features, more "hey do you wanna try AI here?" prompts, etc.
It's not just the addition of AI features, it's all the modern, transparent desperation-for-metrics-to-go-up UX bits that come with it.
And yes, some of these things were around before this wave of AI launches, but a- that doesn't make it better, and b- all the AI features are seemingly the same across apps, so now we have bunches of apps all pushing the same "feature" at us.
gardenerik•1h ago
In this case, Calibre does not seem to introduce any said annoyances (probably because it is FOSS, so no pressure for adoption), but people are upset anyways.
There are many features I don't use in various software, but it never made me complain that a new icon/menu entry appeared.
rkomorn•1h ago
It's one thing when a feature gets added to an app.
It's another thing when it happens in a context where every app is doing it (or something similar), and you see it in every facet of your tech life.