Commentary: Generative AI isn’t worth your money yet

11/07/2024 01:04
Commentary: Generative AI isn’t worth your money yet

Many of the generative AI features tech companies are touting for consumers aren't worth your cash just yet.

Tech companies continue to roll out new generative AI apps and services. Microsoft (MSFT) has its Copilot for Windows; Apple (AAPL) has Apple Intelligence for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac; Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has Gemini for its apps and Pixel phones; and Meta (META) has Meta AI for its various social media services. But despite all of the hype, I’m still not sold on these apps. At least not yet.

I’ve been using each company’s products for a while now, and while they’ve got some intriguing capabilities, none of them has the kind of features that make me want them to be a part of my daily life. The problem, at least so far, is that much of what these companies have to offer are solutions for niche situations or kitschy demos for what’s to come down the line.

Whether that’s manipulating photos to completely alter their settings, changing an artificial intelligence app’s voice to a celebrity’s voice, or creating generative AI-based emojis, I haven’t come across a single generative AI feature that would convince me to spend $800 on a new phone or PC or make me want to change how I use apps. But there’s potential on the horizon.

If you’re an Android user, you’ve likely at least tried some of the company’s generative AI capabilities via Google’s Pixel phones or Samsung’s Galaxy line of devices. There’s the ability to edit photos to do things like make your 4-year-old appear as though she’s dunking a basketball on a regulation-height hoop or that your dog is driving your car. You can also reimagine your photos to, say, transform a road into a rushing river, or even add objects to them that weren’t there before.

Apple also offers photo editing capabilities with its first wave of Apple Intelligence features, though it’s far tamer than Google’s, only allowing you to remove objects from the background of your photos like a person walking behind your subject in a shot or a cup off of a table.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri speaks about Recall during the Microsoft May 20 Briefing event at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on May 20, 2024. Microsoft unveiled a new category of PC on Monday that features generative artificial intelligence tools built directly into Windows, the company's world leading operating system. The tech giant estimates that more than 50 million

Microsoft's Copilot+PCs are Windows PC with added generative AI features like the company's Copilot chatbot software. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images) · JASON REDMOND via Getty Images

Meta AI can pull off the same tricks as Google, letting you do things like remove large objects from images or transform the floor in a photo into lava. It’s all a bit of fun to use at first, but unless you’re spending a lot of time posting the perfect shot to Instagram every day, there’s little reason to regularly use these apps. Is that worth buying a new $799 iPhone or $999 for a Surface laptop or changing your routine to use a new piece of software? Not really.

Tech companies are also offering features that can summarize large chunks of text, rewrite emails to make them more professional or more casual, and prepare bullet points to help quickly digest the most important parts of a report. These can be helpful if you’re trying to plow through a massive document, but it’s hard to imagine most people taking advantage of such an option in their daily lives.

And if you’re the type of person who needs to closely read reports, surveys, or emails for exact details, you’re probably not going to put all of your trust into a generative AI app to get all of the information you require, especially when they’re able to make up information and then present it as though it’s fact.

I find chatting with AI bots helpful at times, but it still hasn’t replaced Google as my go-to for looking up information on the web. And I’m definitely not about to pony up a chunk of change just to chat with a robot.

While the first slate of generative AI apps and services may not be the generation-defining raft of technologies that tech companies have been hyping them as, there’s still plenty of opportunity ahead.

Apple plans to continue to update its Apple Intelligence platform throughout the rest of 2024 and into 2025, while Google and Microsoft regularly announce new capabilities for their respective consumer generative AI offerings. Meta also continues to debut new options for its own Meta AI service.

But the real excitement will come as third-party developers begin to push out their own generative AI-enabled apps over the months and years ahead. What we’re getting right now is sort of a test run of what generative AI can do for the average consumer, but third-party developers will likely be the ones that give us the killer apps that make the technology a hit among users.

Think of it like when Apple first launched the App Store. Sure, iPhones were cool and interesting, but sales really took off once Apple allowed third-party developers to start selling apps of their own for its flagship device. If generative AI is going to be as revolutionary a product as the tech industry promises, it’ll be third-party developers that get us there.

Now we just have to wait for them to do their thing.

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Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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