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Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

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Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#121

Post by ewoodrich »

slowmovintarget wrote: post #116
Weryj wrote: post #11

AI failed at Microsoft because they already lost the consumer trust. I doubt they would have this issue with AI integration if people didn’t feel that installing windows is a hostile corporate takeover of your computer.

> AI failed at Microsoft... Let's be fair. Microsoft has not succeeded at mainstream consumer AI products... yet. To say AI failed at Micrsoft when CoPilot (the real one, for developers) was, last I heard, the most subscribed generative AI tool for software developers is not a failure. It's wild that most developers in a corporate environment pay Microsoft to use Chat GPT, Gemini, and Claude. Their other gen-AI compo…

> It's wild that most developers in a corporate environment pay Microsoft to use Chat GPT, Gemini, and Claude

It definitely didn't help back when my manager asked me to recommend a subscription to buy everyone on our team that Anthropic didn't offer any plan with a predictable monthly cost for Claude Code with SSO/externally managed billing (I think that changed fairly recently).

Github Copilot for Business with an easily digestible flat monthly rate + straightforward per request rate beyond the quota (for devs who actually ended up using it heavily) made it extremely painless to get approved.

Cursor was really the only other subscription offering that checked all those boxes but our team uses the official Microsoft VS Code extensions and there was 0% chance of getting buy-in if it meant disrupting everyone's workflow for a 6 month trial period.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#122

Post by nik282000 »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #107
hifix wrote: post #5

> The fact that people are unimpressed that we can have a fluent conversation with a super smart AI that can generate any image/video is mindblowing to me. It's not that people are unimpressed with AI - they're just tired of constantly being bombarded with it, and it sneaking its way into where it's not wanted. "Generate any image you want!" "Analyse this thing with AI!" gets pretty tiring. If I want AI I'll actively…

I have never in my entire life wanted to "generate an image or video". I like taking photographs and recording videos because they represent the reality of my life. Who would ever want to "generate" fake images as a matter of normal daily activities?

Management, marketing, HR. People who want to send a message without having any kind of responsibility for it.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#123

Post by inshard »

I was surprised when Microsoft hired him. He always seemed to be the cofounder to Demis Hassabis who took on a philosophical tangent rather than the hard engineering needed to build transformative technologies and user experiences. I feel Microsoft lost a gem when Panos Panay left them. He really did some great work on the Surface product line. Surface Studio in particular.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#124

Post by somenameforme »

lotyrin wrote: post #111
jordanb wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people who get confused and consume AI content but when you point out that it's AI they're embarrassed they were fooled and upset. I've never heard the response "I don't care that it's AI." The tech bros will say that it's a "revealed preference" for AI, but it's really just tricking people into engaging.

I caught my mom watching a bunch of AI impersonations of musicians on Youtube singing slop that rarely rhymed or had any kind of message in the lyrics and with super formulaic arrangements. I asked her what she liked about them and it was like "they seem well made" and I showed her how easy Suno is to use and then showed her some of the bad missed rhymes and transcribed the lyrics to where she could see there wasn't…

The issue is that one could reasonably argue that about 95% of pop music is was already formulaic slop. Not just pejoratively, but much of it was even made by the same people. Everybody from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift and more modern acts are all being driven by one guy - 'Max Martin'. [1]

Once you see the songs he's credited with, you instantly start to realize it's painfully formulaic, but most people are happy to just bop their head to his formula of highly repetitive beats paired with simplistic and easy to sing 5-beat choruses.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#125

Post by bradleyankrom »

danaris wrote: post #61
hifix wrote: post #5

> The fact that people are unimpressed that we can have a fluent conversation with a super smart AI that can generate any image/video is mindblowing to me. It's not that people are unimpressed with AI - they're just tired of constantly being bombarded with it, and it sneaking its way into where it's not wanted. "Generate any image you want!" "Analyse this thing with AI!" gets pretty tiring. If I want AI I'll actively…

Exactly. Even if we grant what he says (I don't fully agree)—that doesn't warrant putting that kind of "conversational engine" in Windows as a first-class citizen. I don't want to have a conversation with my computer about my Word docs. I just want to write my Word docs . I don't want to have a conversation with my computer about the quarterly report. I certainly don't want it making up values for the quarterly repor…

It sounds like a terrible friend that you can't trust but also can't expel from your life.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#126

Post by SoftTalker »

hifix wrote: post #5

> The fact that people are unimpressed that we can have a fluent conversation with a super smart AI that can generate any image/video is mindblowing to me. It's not that people are unimpressed with AI - they're just tired of constantly being bombarded with it, and it sneaking its way into where it's not wanted. "Generate any image you want!" "Analyse this thing with AI!" gets pretty tiring. If I want AI I'll actively…

This is the fundamental misunderstanding that the AI techies have. Normal people don’t want a “conversation“ with a computer. Conversations happen between people. Computers, at best, receive orders and carry them out. They are tools, not companions, and they should do nothing unless explicitly told to do it.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#127

Post by ehnto »

I would simply urge that its important to listen to your end users. Microsoft has a grip on enterprise customers, but everyone else has at least two other options. The third option is not having a PC at all, and I bet a lot of people are totally happy with that given how powerful phones and tablets are now.

The only thing I used Windows for was games, and that moat has all but vanished in the last few years. I game AAA games on linux with no issue now. Zero need for Windows. I had Windows as a home OS for 20 years, and it was their alienation through anti-patterns that caused me to switch. Not features, not compatibility, not performance. The clear and braindead obvious anti-consumer actions they made year after year.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#128

Post by nik282000 »

w_for_wumbo wrote: post #118

We need to see actual improvements to our day to day lives if we want to see support for AI. At the moment, people are seeing improvements in technology, but they're feeling the decline of the welfare of those around them, they're feeling food insecurity, they're feeling uncertain about job security.

"AI" is not a machine for improving the lives of people, it's a tool for consolidating power and wealth at the top. Declining welfare and access to basic human needs shows that decision makers are getting better at min/maxing the economy.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#129

Post by SoftTalker »

somenameforme wrote: post #124
lotyrin wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I caught my mom watching a bunch of AI impersonations of musicians on Youtube singing slop that rarely rhymed or had any kind of message in the lyrics and with super formulaic arrangements. I asked her what she liked about them and it was like "they seem well made" and I showed her how easy Suno is to use and then showed her some of the bad missed rhymes and transcribed the lyrics to where she could see there wasn't…

The issue is that one could reasonably argue that about 95% of pop music is was already formulaic slop. Not just pejoratively, but much of it was even made by the same people. Everybody from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift and more modern acts are all being driven by one guy - 'Max Martin'. [1] Once you see the songs he's credited with, you instantly start to realize it's painfully formulaic, but most people are happy…

Also since autotune technology got good, a lot of them can’t even sing.

Re: Microsoft AI CEO pushes back against critics after recent Windows AI backlash

#130

Post by hopelite »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #64
SailorJerry wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This made me think of Henry Ford's quote about people wanting a faster horse. Granted, he was an extreme outlier, which is why he's worth quoting

But when people told him his cars sucked and they wanted their horses back, he didn- Wait, no, that never happened. People bought his cars voluntarily and came back for more. If Ford had stolen horses out of peoples' barns and left cars in their places, then said, "You just don't like change!" when they objected, that would be more like modern-day Windows.

I just don’t get the sense that we are at the model T stage yet. This feels more like the Cugnot Steamer era, not the Model-T era.
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