AI EVERYTHING
“You‘ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around.” ~ Steve Jobs
The Tech Giants jockeying for AI everything, might want to review the first principle of Product Development called the Customer-Centric Approach: understand customer needs and wants.
At the risk of sounding pedantic, without customers you have nothing. So please stop already with stuffing useless AI features down our throats.
“73% of iPhone Users and 87% of Samsung Users Said AI Features Add Little or No Value.”
This is from a Dec 2024 SellCell survey. I think the iPhone users were being kind.
Chat GPT was a breakthrough in LLMs making AI accessible and providing practical benefits to the general public while galvanizing the race among tech giants to establish and dominate foundational platforms and ecosystems for future AI developments.
What followed is the AI market bubble we are in right now, and the scramble of many companies to smother us in AI, not because it serves a purpose or benefits their customers, but just because they don’t want to be “left behind.” If anyone is old enough to remember the DotBomb, this may sound familiar. The result is a bunch of horrendous features nobody wants. And perhaps the most annoying aspect is that the consumer isn’t being given a choice.
Back in the day, we did something called market research using real human people to test ideas and features before developing and launching products. I’m guessing the tech companies are asking Chat GPT or the LLM of their choice to give them ideas on how to incorporate AI into their products.
Here are a few of the brilliant suggestions I got from Microsoft Copilot using the prompt: If I were an iPhone product manager, suggest AI-enabled features to add.
1) Copilot: Personalization - offering proactive suggestions in context, based on preferences and habits, like reminding you to carry an umbrella based on your daily commute pattern.
Me: Wow, standing ovation. I live in Seattle, I don’t own an umbrella, nor does any Seattleite I’ve ever known!
2) Copilot: Intelligent Camera Features - AI-powered smart filters that analyze the scene and recommend the best filter style for the vibe.
Me: Thank God I no longer have to go through the stressful and painstaking process of picking a filter with the perfect VIBE!
3) Copilot: Adaptive User Interface - A UI that adapts to your usage patterns, highlighting your most-used apps or features during different times of the day. Example: If you tend to open your email app first thing in the morning the interface could automatically prioritize those apps at the top of your screen during those times.
Me: Because it takes so much time to click on the app I want to use and I need my iPhone to prompt me to waste an hour watching cat videos on TikTok!
4) Copilot: AI-Powered Multitasking Assistant - Picture AI suggesting optimal ways to split your screen or prioritize notifications.
Me: I can barely see the screen as it is.
5) Copilot: Real-Time Translation with Context - Improved translation capabilities that understand cultural nuances and emotions, so your message comes across authentically even in a different language.
Me: Okay, I’m giving you this one Copilot. It’s pretty obvious how powerful it will be to converse seamlessly in any language.
6) Copilot: Eco-Friendly Insights - AI recommendations on sustainable practices based on your device usage, like when to charge to optimize battery health or eco-friendly travel routes.
Me: I just used enough energy to power a small village for a year with my Copilot query.
Copilot concluded with: “Wouldn’t these features make the iPhone more irresistible?”
Me: I can barely resist the urge to find a field of daisies to frolic in.
My advice to The Tech Bros, calm the eff down. You’re embarrassing yourselves and pissing off your customers. A small reminder that you are there to serve your customers. I get you think we are so entrenched in your products and that we have nowhere to go and I get that you feel a lot of pressure to incorporate AI into everything and find that “killer app” but please rethink your approach. If you're too lazy or resource-constrained to do real market research, I suggest you look on Reddit if you're curious what your customers think about you and your superfluous AI features.
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Yes, I love this! "Thank God I no longer have to go through the stressful and painstaking process of picking a filter with the perfect VIBE!" LOL. So much useless stuff, taking so much power to do. Doesn't it remind you a bit of Clippy?
Good point. That requirement that products must be continuously inovated is the same nonsense as a rule, that capital shares must constantly grow up. These both trends are nonsense which must be ended. I saw many times how completed top-notch product is degraded by inovation, because poor software engineers are pushed to innovate each product, if they want to keep their jobs.