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How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

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Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#211

Post by ErroneousBosh »

ikr678 wrote: post #181
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand why anyone would need sat nav for a ten minute drive.

Neither, but my coworkers are apparently unable to carpool to a lunch spot 5 mins away that we visit every 2-3 weeks without setting nav first.

Many years ago now I picked up a colleague (the boss's son, actually) to drive down to London from Glasgow to collect some equipment.

First thing he did was slap a massive TomTom sat nav in the middle of the screen. He got pretty indignant when I told him to take it off, because it was blocking my view out the windscreen.

"But how will you know where to go?"

Dude, it's London. London is south. We go south. We go south for like eight hours.

We can use the sat nav for the last dozen or so of the 400-odd miles we'll be driving.

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#212

Post by rpdillon »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #163
Apocryphon wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know those routes have a roughly equal amounts of traffic? Or that there’s only two routes? I usually see at least three possible routes with my commute (with some forking), and at least one shortcut. During heavy traffic one optimized route can at least save 10-15 minutes than the slower one(s).

It's really unlikely that you're saving any time at all.

This just isn't true. You're assuming the conclusion and saying the routes will have equal amounts of traffic and that one will be way longer and that it's unlikely you're saving time. Except people that have experience with Google Maps have watched it flag upcoming traffic congestion and explicitly reroute you and ask you to confirm and show the time difference. That's the real-time aspect, but it can also project forward in time and estimate what the traffic along routes will be at the time you want to travel, so it's also an important planning tool.

I have no idea why it's contentious that having nationwide surveillance of traffic patterns would result in better routing decisions.

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#213

Post by rpdillon »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #164
Apocryphon wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The response is to “it didn't occur to me that people might not remember how to get places in real life”, which is a rather limited understanding of why people might use navigation. I am not here to preach to you the benefits of this technology, simply clarifying an additional use case. There’s no need to conflate your own needs or tastes with the rest of the driving populace, either. Also, those notifications can li…

Most of the places I drive, there aren't really any practical alternative routes that don't add several hours and often things like a ferry journey to your trip. I don't want audio alerts for anything either. It's really simple - I don't want anything in the car that beeps, flashes, lights up, makes noise, or indeed does anything that is not directly part of making the car go in the required direction at the required…

You've jumped from "I don't understand why anybody would do this" to "I don't want it".

People are different. People have different use cases. People live in different areas.

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#214

Post by Loughla »

netsharc wrote: post #44

Hah, the app to view the file format that simulates paper documents has AI now... (PDF/Adobe Reader).

I use Adobe to send proofs of designs to clients and the AI toolbar has popped up every time for the last month or so. I have ZERO idea why anyone would want AI inside a program used to view documents.

Do people use Adobe reader for things other than opening .pdf files?

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#215

Post by skinfaxi »

Legend2440 wrote: post #80
skinfaxi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people prefer having an AI gate customer support, for instance? I don't think we are talking about two groups here.

I'm not opposed to it on principle, but it has to actually work. Every AI phone assistant I've talked to has been pretty terrible, even compared to modern LLMs like ChatGPT voice mode.

How about if AI was the gate for emergency services dispatch?

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#216

Post by everdrive »

dinkleberg wrote: post #9

I recently discovered that you need to have Siri enabled for Apple CarPlay. I expect we're going to see a lot of this where when you disable the AI functionality the devs won't have put in fallback states and you'll be effectively locked out. With CarPlay for instance there is no reason that I shouldn't be able to listen to my music or use the map without Siri. But things like responding to texts does rely on Siri, s…

You know what the solution is, don't you? You need to stop using your phone for things. At least as much as you can. Apple or Google are going to build the device that makes sense for them. If you get comfortable, or find a workaround, they will change things in the future -- in their favor, and against your interests.

You have other options right now: use an aux cable, play music over bluetooth, listen to the radio, purchase $30 MP3 player, pay attention to your thoughts rather than music, etc.

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#217

Post by bookofjoe »

Ekaros wrote: post #195
bookofjoe wrote: post #106

Oh! The joy of driving a 2010 car with 60,000 miles on it knowing it's more likely than not I've never have to experience CarPlay/Siri/etc.

Worst my external navigator does is ask me to update maps some times. Rest of the time it stays away from my way...

Maps? Don't got no damn maps!

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#218

Post by jessamyn »

bookofjoe wrote: post #106

Oh! The joy of driving a 2010 car with 60,000 miles on it knowing it's more likely than not I've never have to experience CarPlay/Siri/etc.

I drive a 2009 car with 110K miles on it and a Garmin GPS which has never heard of the internet, I am right there with you.

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#219

Post by dredmorbius »

jnovacho wrote: post #207
dredmorbius wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want pure-play Linux, there's Purism (PureOS), Pine (PineOS), SailfishOS, Ubuntu Touch (33 supported devices, including Fairphone, Xiaomi, Google Pixel, and Lenovo, amongst others), Tizen, Mobian (based on Debian), and postMarketOS (based on Alpine Linux). If you want an alternative to the iOS / Android duopoly, and will accept AOSP (Android Open Source Project) or de-Googled Android, there are AOSP devices (i…

And which of those lets you access you bank, or use Government ID?

All match or exceed my present capabilities.

What specific functionalities and/or apps are not supported in your experience?

Re: How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

#220

Post by Apocryphon »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #211
ikr678 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither, but my coworkers are apparently unable to carpool to a lunch spot 5 mins away that we visit every 2-3 weeks without setting nav first.

Many years ago now I picked up a colleague (the boss's son, actually) to drive down to London from Glasgow to collect some equipment. First thing he did was slap a massive TomTom sat nav in the middle of the screen. He got pretty indignant when I told him to take it off, because it was blocking my view out the windscreen. "But how will you know where to go?" Dude, it's London. London is south. We go south. We go sout…

Maybe he didn’t know that you knew how to get onto the motorway, or that it’s straightforward to do so. Try driving I-80 in San Francisco during rush hour and make the 4th Street exit without getting forced onto the Bay Bridge, without either having done it before or without some sort of guidance- digital or otherwise. Getting on and off a freeway is not always simple.

Not to mention, even long road trips sometimes require a few highway transitions.

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