this post was submitted on 29 May 2025

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450

Google is going ‘all in’ on AI. It’s part of a troubling trend in big tech (theconversation.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] ocassionallyaduck@lemmy.world 123 points 1 week ago (17 children)

Tech companies don't really give a damn what customers want anymore. They have decided this is the path of the future because it gives them the most control of your data, your purchasing habits and your online behavior. Since they control the back end, the software, the tech stack, the hardware, all of it, they just decided this is how it shall be. And frankly, there's nothing you can do to resist it, aside from just eschewing using a phone at all. and divorcing yourself from all modern technology, which isn't really reasonable for most people. That or legislation, but LOL United States.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Tech companies don’t really give a damn what customers want anymore.

Ed Zitron wrote an article about how leadership is business idiots. They don't know the products or users but they make decisions and get paid. Long, like everything he writes, but interesting

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/

Our economy is run by people that don't participate in it and our tech companies are directed by people that don't experience the problems they allege to solve for their customers, as the modern executive is no longer a person with demands or responsibilities beyond their allegiance to shareholder value.

[–] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Can confirm. The more you deal with people who have climbed to the tops of corporate ladders, the more it becomes clear that it's all vibes. It's all people telling stories to other people who tell stories about those stories.

The peter principle is wrong - in an oversized corporate structure, there is no upper bound for incompetence. You can keep rising for no reason, because after a certain point other people just trust that you know what you're talking about, and the people that know better work around you instead.

The people beneath you can't trust the people above you enough to explain the situation, the people above you don't really listen to the people beneath you anyway, and so plenty of middle managers just muddle through and constantly make shit up to justify their own existence, while everyone above and below is left in the dark about what's really going on.

Decisions are constantly made by people without any real connection to the consequences, and it shows. With the everything.

[–] taladar@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

the people that know better work around you instead.

In fact one of the ways to work around you that causes the least friction is usually to just get you promoted away from the places where you can do the most direct damage in the area other people on a similar level to you care about.

[–] PushButton@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nothing I can do to resist?

Microsoft is shoving this copilot in all its products? Alright, Linux and open source it is.

Google is bugging with its spyware? Well, I only use a Pixel phone, and ironically, its the best phone to put GrapheneOS on it.

Gmail? I don't remember when I opened mine the last time...

All what's really remaining right now is a good YouTube alternative.

[–] LedgeDrop@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Nothing I can do to resist?

I admire your optimism, but we are pissing in the wind.

Microsoft is shoving this copilot in all its products? Alright, Linux and open source it is.

Windows 11 is forcing people to throw away functional computers that Microsoft seems "not secure enough" (it's lacking TMP 2.0)

This means you can get a great deal on one of these "inscure pc"... but in the long run your pc now and tomorrow will have TPM. As time progresses, the use of TPM/attestation will become more and more entrenched in application, web pages, everything. ... and Linux, with its 4% user base, will be left out in cold.

Google is bugging with its spyware? Well, I only use a Pixel phone, and ironically, its the best phone to put GrapheneOS on it.

Currently, many banking apps won't run on Graphene (or any custom firmware) due to attestation.

Graphene issued calls for help, because Google is restricting public access to the latest android source code (I cannot find the links atm).

Gmail? I don't remember when I opened mine the last time...

Today things like "email reputation" make it difficult to host your own mail server, so your stuck paying someone who has a better "reputation".

My point is: today, you and I can resist with some (minor) success, but our days are numbered.

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In regard to Linux users being left out in the cold.. how so? Do you think that distros are going to start enforcing attestation? I doubt that it will be a hard requirement for most, even in the next decade or two. It's an option, yes, but mandatory?

FWIW, all of my banking apps work just fine with compatibility mode enabled on Graphene. Also, I'm not sure saying it's inevitable is the right way to go, it certainly won't make others care about their privacy and security.

[–] LedgeDrop@lemm.ee 9 points 1 week ago

In regard to Linux users being left out in the cold.. how so? Do you think that distros are going to start enforcing attestation? I doubt that it will be a hard requirement for most, even in the next decade or two. It's an option, yes, but mandatory?

It does not matter if Linux supports attestation or not, because ultimately the application (or website) will determine if it wants to run on Linux. It's up to the company developing it's application or website to determine if they want to support more than windows/Mac.

Graphene has its own variation of attestation (they cryptographically sign requests with their own key - and not googles), but it requires additional hoops for each application - few companies are willing to do this.

Attestation is a wet dream for companies. You don't need DRM (as the OS will enforce it) and you can be certain your competitors/hackers cannot reverse engineer/pirate your code or run the application in an emulator. And the implementation effort to support it, is as simple as "make function call and check the response".

Linux will still exist (especially on the server side) and developers will still use it as a desktop machine. However, (as I implied) non-Linux games will stop working, accessing you banks website from linux will be rejected, emulation will cease - it'll be a corporate paradise... the stocks will go up.

FWIW, all of my banking apps work just fine with compatibility mode enabled on Graphene.

Revolut explicitly goes out of their way to not work on Graphene.

I've complained, they don't care. The bean counters have done their risk calculations and decided that the personal data they collect/mine (and the integrity of that data) is worth more than losing a few graphene users.

Also, I'm not sure saying it's inevitable is the right way to go, it certainly won't make others care about their privacy and security.

You do have a valid point: giving up after trying nothing won't help. However, I fear there will need to be "government intervention" to allow hardware and software to be "open for everyone". I'll admit my bias in wonder how well governments (of late) are representing the best interests of the people. But, these topics are complicated for even technically inclined people - let alone politicians. And the strawman argument against intervention is always going to be "in the name of security".

From my perspective, the writing is on the wall. This apocalyptic future won't happen over night, but it will be a slow boil over the next 10 years (or so).

If you've got ideas for how to avoid this, I'm all ears.

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[–] sartalon@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Google has gotten so fucking dumb. Literally incapable of performing the same function it could 4 months ago.

How the fuck am I supposed to trust Gemini!?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 28 points 1 week ago (16 children)

I find this current timeline so confusing. Supposedly we're going to have AGI soon, and yet Google's AI keeps telling you to stick glue on pizza. How can both things be true?

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's the same reason why they removed the headphone jacks from phones. They don't want to give you a better product, they want you to force youbto use a product, even if it's worse in all aspects

[–] Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip -5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Whoa don't come for Bluetooth like that. I like not having tangled wires and janky earbuds/headphones, especially because my clumsy ass used to snap the cords all the time by accident.

I do agree though that we should get the choice to use headphone jack or bluetooth. I also miss having a jack since I have to use my charging port to connect to my car radio...

Edit: My comment is an implication that I want phones with headphone jacks. I know that phones have headphone jacks and bluetooth. Why am I getting downvoted?

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[–] Emi@ani.social 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I assume it's big tech that has this weird ai they try to sell while the scientists are using different ai for real useful stuff, like the protein something I heard. Or at least that's what I'd like to believe.

[–] taladar@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

A whole lot of useful stuff that wasn't publicly labelled AI got relabeled to take advantage of funding opportunities. That doesn't mean it is related to generative AI like LLMs and image generators though.

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[–] match@pawb.social 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

imagine if a company said they're going all in on quality instead

[–] Fisch@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

But higher quality ≠ more profits
AI apparently makes investors wanna dump in all their money tho

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[–] BassTurd@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I work with ServiceNow for my job and a couple weeks back was the big knowledge 2025 conference in Vegas. The CEO came out for the opening keynote and opened with some like, "ah yea, doesn't it feel good to be an AI company?" and I didn't here a single cheer from the crowd, just polite applause. They have gone all in on AI, have made it completely unaffordable, and have just been shoehorning it into everything. I hope every one of these companies that that goes big on AI crashes and fails. They've already cut the employees, so the only people affected are the ones making the cash, so fuck em.

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago (4 children)

the fuck does service now even need AI for?

I hate any company I work for that uses ServiceNow. And now it's getting worse??

[–] theherk@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

“Bad” is SN’s claim to fame. Everybody hates it. Apparently, the worse they make it, the more companies will throw money at them.

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You might be joking but I honestly think that's the case. It's wild to me. I've worked for Fortune 500 companies using SNOW and everybody hated it and regularly voiced complaints and issues and yet the company refused to change. Started doing shit like releasing more training docs on how to use it or doing brown bag lunches on SNOW effectiveness.

But ultimately none of that mattered, it is just inherently garbage.

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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

It already has script automation and has had for years so I'm not sure what AI is going to bring to the table.

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[–] SouthFresh@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago

The Sunk Cost fallacy is strong

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What tech company isnt going "all in" on AI? We just had Google I/O and AI was literally the only thing they talked about.

[–] const_void@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Apple still lets you disable their AI which I’m grateful for.

[–] tarknassus@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

DuckDuckGo has made A.I. results optional, which is a good move.

Companies that are making it fixed can go swimming in lava for all I care (looking at you Google).

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

Yes, THANK YOU!!!!!!!

[–] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 week ago

Gemini.

The twins.

Castor and Pollux.

They were tricked by their cousins and started the whole Trojan War.

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The two thing I use most, by far, from Google, is gmail and basic search.

Gmail, I'm looking to move away from it now, but I currently have every little addition to it disabled. Basic inbox and tags, no automatic filtering, no categories, no nothing.

Search, my browser is set to open the "web" tab with the query, no transformation, no summary, no "for you", no AI garbage, no "we thought you wanted video so there's only video in the replies". It still works fine.

Basically, none of what they added for years… maybe decade at this point, had held a glimmer of interest from me. It feels like this trend will continue. I just want something very basic that works.

[–] fattigbrer@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Switch over to the Qwant search engine for your basic search and a good email provider like Tutamail or Proton. I have for a few months and there really is no reason to go back. It's simple and it works.

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[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Google did the same thing with Google Plus they went all in on social and it failed miserably

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It was actually a really good product, way better than Facebook, unfortunately if you have a social media platform that's invite only then it's never going to succeed. I really have no idea why they did it like that.

[–] skarn@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

Facebook started out as invite only for a few years so they might have been looking to emulate its early trajectory. Gmail also started that way.

[–] VagueAnodyneComments@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 week ago

it's part of a welcoming trend of who gives a fuck

the less relevant megacorps are the better, i hope they all go all in on fake AI and lose everything whilst choking

[–] Godnroc@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

The other day I asked my phone for a measurement conversion while cooking only to be greeted by the new Gemini nonsense. Don't touch my shit!

Then I was driving and tried to play a specific song, but the Assistant couldn't get further than dumping me into YouTube Music and hiding my navigation.

So anyways, I just uninstalled Assistant and after failing to find something else I came to Lemmy and saw this.

[–] DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

from wp:Don't be evil to Too Big To Care.

[–] seven_phone@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

To be fair I think it is happening to Google as much as it is to everyone else, we are running down a hill and are going too fast to stop.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Thankfully I’ve been “all out” on Google for some time.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

First of all no thanks and second... How do I totally opt out because we must assume those cretins opted us all in. I've opted out one one account. Does that work for everything?

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