[HN Gopher] Google's newly formed 'Platforms and Devices' team i...
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       Google's newly formed 'Platforms and Devices' team is all about AI
        
       Author : thecybernerd
       Score  : 76 points
       Date   : 2024-04-18 17:04 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | meindnoch wrote:
       | It's going to be a tremendous success, I can feel it already.
        
       | courseofaction wrote:
       | The 'consumer data extractor' (hardware) team is teaming up with
       | the 'consumer manipulator' (AI) team, and all free of any
       | inconvenient 'dont be evil' policy.
       | 
       | What a time to be alive!
        
       | __loam wrote:
       | Google execs found incapable of speaking two sentences without
       | mentioning AI
        
         | stagger87 wrote:
         | If this article was written 4 years ago the title would have
         | been,
         | 
         | "Google is combining ..., and it's all about Blockchain"
        
           | surfingdino wrote:
           | Blockchain is so 2023 for Google. Speaking of blockchain,
           | what happened to the crypto accelerator Google launched in
           | 2023?
        
             | CatWChainsaw wrote:
             | It's google, what do you think happened? :)
        
       | user_7832 wrote:
       | I'm not sure how I feel about this, as a user of google's
       | services and as an owner of google's hardware (pixel 5, nest hub
       | 2). I'm probably cautiously optimistic, seeing how high quality
       | yet unique/quirky their hardware has been. However Tensor/Samsung
       | fabs have had their issues, but maybe factors may have been out
       | of the hands of those in charge?
        
       | ur-whale wrote:
       | How is a reorg at Google any kind of news ?
       | 
       | Last I spoke to folks working there, these seem to happen every
       | y-ending day.
        
         | onlyrealcuzzo wrote:
         | A reorg at this scale?
         | 
         | It doesn't even happen annually.
         | 
         | A reorg of two teams of 10 people? Sure. Google is a ~180k
         | person company.
        
           | bsimpson wrote:
           | There's also a buried lede:
           | 
           | Hiroshi, who's been an Android lead since before it shipped,
           | is no longer leading Android.
           | 
           | When Jony Ive and Scott Forstall and the other big Apple
           | execs left, that was news. Hiroshi may not have Jony's
           | profile, but it's still a major change in how Android is
           | governed.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Lockheimer
        
         | xnx wrote:
         | Even small changes by a $2 trillion company with billions of
         | daily users are a big deal.
        
       | bogwog wrote:
       | I don't know anything involved in the process, but I hope this
       | doesn't make it any harder for regulators to break them up when
       | the day finally comes.
        
         | dcgudeman wrote:
         | I hope ideas like "regulators break them up" never come true.
         | I'll never understand why people crave the destruction of
         | productive organizations. Android has been a stunning success.
         | Valuable for consumers who enjoy the platform, profitable for
         | the investors who bet on the platform and lucrative for the
         | employees who work on the platform. The only people that seem
         | to have a problem with Android are misguided ideologues who
         | think that "big company == bad".
        
       | bearjaws wrote:
       | I believe I speak for everyone when I say: As long as the AI does
       | something helpful I don't care how you structure the team.
       | 
       | But the current generative craze with "AI generated backgrounds"
       | is a dead end.
       | 
       | Give me better AI autocomplete, AI image correction, AI noise
       | cancellation...
        
         | dcgudeman wrote:
         | aren't they doing those things?
        
         | lawlessone wrote:
         | >Give me better AI autocomplete, AI image correction, AI noise
         | cancellation..
         | 
         | We have all those, some of it we've had a long time, we just
         | didn't call it AI.
        
       | treprinum wrote:
       | It seems like Google didn't learn the lesson from Google+ and is
       | going to do another fear-driven reorg.
        
         | onemoresoop wrote:
         | Google cannot learn that kind of lesson, the people who were in
         | Google+ are probably long gone from Google for greener pastures
         | most likely. Second, google is an amorphous giant with no other
         | goals than increase market share, no wonder their products are
         | terrible. But still, with all this in mind, we should remember
         | that great things go come from google, it's just that they're
         | not capable of capitalizing on them.
        
       | afavour wrote:
       | Yawn. Get back to me when something of actual note gets launched.
       | 
       | Mobile OSes are now a boring, stable environment. All this noise
       | about AI seems like an attempt to convince investors that some
       | paradigm-shifting change is on the way. It isn't. A mildly better
       | Google Assistant is on the way.
        
       | rickdeckard wrote:
       | So the team that is in charge of the OS which is licensed to
       | Hardware vendors in the world is the same team that's in charge
       | to create competing Hardware?
       | 
       | I'd say that creates a huge conflict of interest.
       | 
       | That's one of the big reasons why Nokia Series60 didn't take off
       | as a licensed OS: Whatever Samsung or LG or Lenovo wanted to
       | build on that platform to differentiate, they had to involve
       | Nokia during the development (who then developed the needed OS-
       | feature in parallel to the Nokia product that will make use of
       | it).
       | 
       | Google is either very secure that their grip on all these HW-
       | vendors is strong enough forcing them to stay, or they are no
       | longer part of Google's long-term strategy for Android.
        
         | dheera wrote:
         | Conflict of interest is a human invention, and not a law of the
         | universe. There is no "conflict" unless you see it as one.
         | 
         | You can play chess against yourself. AlphaGo can, because it
         | wasn't brainwashed about this notion. ChatGPT can debate
         | against itself. You can too, if you don't see it as a conflict.
         | Humans might find it hard, only because they were brainwashed
         | from a child that they need to pick sides. Your neural net is
         | capable of operating on both sides simultaneously if you let
         | it.
         | 
         | The market is big enough for Google to create hardware AND
         | other companies to create hardware.
        
           | maximinus_thrax wrote:
           | > Conflict of interest is a human invention, and not a law of
           | the universe.
           | 
           | Lucky for us, we're discussing this in the context of humans
           | building stuff for other humans to buy in a human society
           | with human governments and markets, not in some metaphysical
           | 'but what does meaning means' context.
        
           | rickdeckard wrote:
           | > The market is big enough for Google to create hardware AND
           | other companies to create hardware.
           | 
           | You obviously didn't read the comment you're replying to. No
           | one is challenging that.
           | 
           | Having the same TEAM in charge of the OS and in-house
           | hardware is an entirely different story.
           | 
           | It's a conflict of interest because the person Samsung is
           | talking to to have a feature implemented into the OS baseline
           | may be the same person in charge of defining the competitive
           | featureset for the next Google hardware.
           | 
           | Now this person knows that the product he and his team is
           | designing will compete with a yet-to-be-announced Samsung-
           | product with a new feature.
           | 
           | So his interest to support a licensee being successful with
           | his product is _in conflict_ with his interest to create a
           | more successful competing product.
           | 
           | And even if he isn't, for SAMSUNG just the potential of this
           | situation to happen can be enough to NOT cooperate with this
           | team and scale back communications with the Android team as a
           | whole.
        
             | dheera wrote:
             | >It's a conflict of interest because the person Samsung is
             | talking to to have a feature implemented into the OS
             | baseline may be the same person in charge of defining the
             | competitive featureset for the next Google hardware.
             | 
             | The person can run two threads in their brain, one that
             | deals with Samsung and one that deals with the internal
             | product.
             | 
             | > Now this person knows that the product he and his team is
             | designing will compete with a yet-to-be-announced Samsung-
             | product with a new feature.
             | 
             | So? You're talking about the person, which is just the host
             | hardware. There can be multiple threads running on that
             | hardware at the same time in containers.
             | 
             | > So his interest to support a licensee being successful
             | with his product is in conflict with his interest to create
             | a more successful competing product.
             | 
             | They can both be successful at the same time. He can
             | operate with an interest to optimize for an overall better
             | world rather than interest to win over and kill Samsung. He
             | can build a successful product AND help Samsung build a
             | successful product at the same time.
        
               | coldtea wrote:
               | > _The person can run two threads in their brain, one
               | that deals with Samsung and one that deals with the
               | internal product._
               | 
               | There's a reason we don't make a police chief investigate
               | their own misconduct.
               | 
               | "It's a perfectly OK thing to do. The person is just the
               | host hardware. There can be multiple threads running on
               | that hardware at the same time. They can run two threads
               | in their brain, one that deals with investigating the
               | case and a seperate one that might or might not did it".
               | 
               | "He didn't just declare himself innocent of misconduct
               | and embezzelment out of self-interest. The independent
               | investigating "thread" must have arrived to an impartial
               | decision".
               | 
               | "In any case, it's not blatant misconduct, you only see
               | it as such. There's no notion of misconduct in nature,
               | it's a made up thing we invented".
        
               | dheera wrote:
               | If there's accusation of misconduct, there's a bug in the
               | system so you isolate it and investigate it from the
               | outside.
               | 
               | There's no investigation happening here, just two happy
               | parties trying to create great products that can both be
               | successful and be even happier. Lawyers can stay out of
               | this happiness, inventing and injecting "conflicts" that
               | never existed in the first place.
        
               | maximinus_thrax wrote:
               | > If there's accusation of misconduct, there's a bug in
               | the system so you isolate it and investigate it from the
               | outside.
               | 
               | Why should the investigation be from the outside?
        
               | maximinus_thrax wrote:
               | > The person can run two threads in their brain, one that
               | deals with Samsung and one that deals with the internal
               | product.
               | 
               | Great find! Does this also apply to a police officer
               | investigating a crime where their spouse is a suspect? Or
               | to a judge presiding over a court case involving
               | themselves?
        
               | rickdeckard wrote:
               | He may also "operate" with 50% of his bonus depending on
               | Google Hardware doubling in market-share.
               | 
               | How much would you bet to win against me in a card-game
               | if you have to show me all your cards and I show you
               | none?
               | 
               | Rest assured, I will maintain the task to beat you in
               | another container than all the details I need to beat
               | you.
               | 
               |  _> So? You 're talking about the person, which is just
               | the host hardware. There can be multiple threads running
               | on that hardware at the same time in containers._
               | 
               | ...what?
        
             | oarla wrote:
             | Weren't the 2 teams already part of the same company? And
             | OEMs do make custom modifications to Android before
             | shipping their devices, so they don't have to share
             | everything they intend to do with the Android team.
        
           | coldtea wrote:
           | > _Conflict of interest is a human invention, and not a law
           | of the universe. There is no "conflict" unless you see it as
           | one._
           | 
           | That could be said for anything in the moral and judicial
           | sphere. "There's no theft, property is a human invention",
           | "There's no rape, animals don't have that concept", and so
           | on.
        
             | dheera wrote:
             | That's true, but there are good reasons for calling theft
             | and rape crimes in civilization.
             | 
             | Conflict of interest, on the other hand, was invented by
             | some lawyer and HR types just to make life harder for the
             | rest of us.
             | 
             | I'm an optimistic engineer, believe in win-win situations,
             | and don't see everything as a conflict.
        
               | coldtea wrote:
               | Conflict of interest has been a thing way before lawyers
               | and HR types existed, they understood it and tried to
               | prevent it at any point in history, from ancient Babylon
               | to Rome, and from Amazon native tribes to imperial China.
               | 
               | It's of course also the explicitly expressed reasoning
               | for why there are independent branches of government
               | (legislative, executive, and judicial in the US).
               | 
               | > _I 'm an optimistic engineer, believe in win-win
               | situations, and don't see everything as a conflict._
               | 
               | Yes, it's called naivety :)
        
         | spankalee wrote:
         | The first priority for Android is competing against iPhone. Any
         | self-dealing to get Pixel to have more of the Android pie would
         | be far down the list, and probably counter-productive. It was
         | already possible under the previous structure anyway.
        
           | rezonant wrote:
           | Correct, and it's clear that this isn't an outdated strategy
           | from Google, just in the current cycle we saw Circle to
           | Search launch on both Galaxy and Pixel, and most of the new
           | AI stuff that differentiates Pixel is now coming to Galaxy as
           | well. This might be a headscratcher if you think Google is
           | trying to make Pixel the dominant _Android_ phone, but that
           | 's not it. Google wants _Android_ to be the dominant phone
           | OS, and despite it being massively popular globally, in the
           | US the numbers are dire, with 50-60% overall going to Apple,
           | and as high as 80-90% of young people choosing iPhone. I love
           | Pixel, but it accounts for approximately 5% of the market in
           | the US, with Samsung at 22%. Those stats about young people
           | nearly universally picking iPhone is a bad sign for Android
           | and a bad sign for competition in the phone market as a
           | whole.
        
             | Rinzler89 wrote:
             | _> as high as 80-90% of young people choosing iPhone_
             | 
             | It's not really choosing, it's more like being handed over
             | form parents or being force to due to iMessage network
             | effect with teens in the US. Which teens wants to choose to
             | be left out of group conversations?
             | 
             | As an adult you can give fewer fucks about normie
             | conformism, bubble colors and people being petty over it,
             | but as a teen it would be a death sentence for your social
             | life. Hence why the regulatory bodies are starting to twist
             | Apple's arm over it.
        
           | eschneider wrote:
           | That's the situation NOW, but it can certainly change in the
           | future. Work with Google as a hardware vendor, grow the
           | Android market with them, and eventually they don't need you
           | and cut you out. It happens.
        
             | amadeuspagel wrote:
             | An american company is never going to be able to produce
             | phones as cheaply as a korean or a chinese company.
        
               | rickdeckard wrote:
               | Let me assure you, Apple is capable to produce a cheaper
               | device than any other smartphone vendor in the world
               | today.
        
               | paulryanrogers wrote:
               | In concert with Foxconn and others.
        
         | pjmlp wrote:
         | It took off for Sony and Ericsson.
        
           | rickdeckard wrote:
           | What took off?
           | 
           | (Sony) Ericsson used UIQ, a pen-based OS built on top of the
           | core of Symbian foundation.
           | 
           | Nokia developed Series60, a key-based OS built on top of a
           | Symbian core.
           | 
           | They were not compatible operating systems, and most of all
           | Ericsson didn't license it from Nokia.
        
             | pjmlp wrote:
             | As Nokia alumni I disagree.
             | 
             | They weren't compatible at UI widgets level, but were at
             | the underlying layers.
             | 
             | It is like telling Samsung, Huawei or Xiomi aren't Android,
             | because they use another GUI framework on top of AOSP.
             | 
             | And as many Android developers are painfully aware, that
             | isn't the only customisations to AOSP standard behaviours.
        
               | rickdeckard wrote:
               | Let's not fetch too far, this becomes a strawman
               | argument.
               | 
               | They weren't compatible operating systems because
               | applications compiled for one of them were unable to be
               | executed on the other without heavy modifications.
               | 
               | At "underlying layers" the OS of a Tesla is compatible
               | with that of a Nintendo Switch, and yet no one would say
               | they have a compatible OS.
               | 
               |  _> It is like telling Samsung, Huawei or Xiomi aren 't
               | Android, because they use another GUI framework on top of
               | AOSP._
               | 
               | No it's not, because they all use the same GUI framework
               | as AOSP, hence they can run the same precompiled
               | application.
        
             | awiesenhofer wrote:
             | Maybe you are mixing up your Sony Ericsson phones? There
             | were loads of key based S60 phones too from them, not just
             | UIQ.
        
               | rickdeckard wrote:
               | Name one please.
        
       | Mathnerd314 wrote:
       | I guess it makes them more like Apple, having a vertically
       | integrated division for making phones. TFA says it might make
       | other phone manufacturers struggle. Although I get the impression
       | they are already struggling with the Open Handset Alliance terms
       | from Google that they don't like. Maybe the best outcome is that
       | AOSP gets multiple active forks supported by manufacturers,
       | Google apps stop being distributed by default, and the phone
       | software ecosystem gets more decentralized in general.
        
         | lawlessone wrote:
         | The other manufactures are fine I think as google still build a
         | quality phone to house their cutting edge tech.
        
         | HeatrayEnjoyer wrote:
         | Samsung is the dominant Android manufacturer by far.
        
         | conradfr wrote:
         | Would it be realistic for app developers?
        
         | rickdeckard wrote:
         | Forks supported by manufacturers don't work, because they only
         | earn money when selling hardware. So they can't each operate a
         | huge platform maintenance team on their own.
         | 
         | Also, the only glue that actually holds Android in place as a
         | single platform is Google's CTS (compatibility test suite).
         | 
         | Without it being mandated for Googles Mobile Services (GMS) and
         | its revenue-share, Android will stop being a single platform.
         | 
         | It will start drifting apart as soon as all vendors have to
         | implement the next display/camera/sensor/form-factor support in
         | the OS in parallel of each other...
        
       | dmitrygr wrote:
       | It is unsurprising to see that RickO beat Hiroshi for the title
       | of grand poobah of devices and platforms. Hiroshi always made the
       | impression of a very smart guy. Rick always made the impression
       | of a good politician. Politicians always win
        
       | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
       | The world needs a third party software and hardware stack that
       | isn't controlled by big tech walled garden monopolists /
       | authoritarians. Not just for phones but laptops and computers
       | too. As far as phones go, unfortunately the best alternative I've
       | heard of is Graphene and the best phone for Graphene is the Pixel
       | series. And I assume using it as a daily driver is problematic
       | without access to various apps or maybe if websites block them or
       | even carriers - not sure.
        
         | bossyTeacher wrote:
         | The world is reactive, never proactive
        
         | WillAdams wrote:
         | This is why my next tech purchase will be a Raspberry Pi 5 and
         | a Wacom One 13" touch screen --- my testing with a Raspberry Pi
         | 4 and Wacom One (gen 1, no touch) went well, so I'm hopeful
         | that this will work as well.
        
       | rurp wrote:
       | I recently got a new Pixel phone and Google's much hyped new AI
       | features just seem so... gimmicky. One of the setup examples
       | shows how you can circle a tent on the left side of a picture and
       | move it more to the center. Neat, I guess? It's kind of a fun toy
       | but I'm not sure what problem this is actually solving. I'm sure
       | there are some usecases for this out there, but it's not a
       | capability I have ever found myself wishing for.
       | 
       | Meanwhile the rest of the phone is surprisingly buggy and
       | annoying. Basic functionality I use every day is worse than on
       | any other recent phone.
       | 
       | Google has never been a great product org, but this desperate
       | need to be seen as one of the cool kids in AI is making things
       | worse. Granted I think of phones/computers more as a tool than a
       | toy and put much higher value on usability and reliability versus
       | novelty; perhaps I'm outlier in that.
        
         | Rinzler89 wrote:
         | _> I recently got a new Pixel phone and Google's much hyped new
         | AI features just seem so... gimmicky_
         | 
         | Not just that, but their biggest crime is that almost none of
         | those fancy AI features Google paraded at the Pixel launch even
         | actually run on-device but need to be sent to their cloud for
         | processing, despite all the gloating about their new Tensor 3
         | chip's AI capabilities being the most important (since that
         | chip sucks at CPU and GPU benchmarks compared to Apple and
         | Qualcomm). Also, their Tensor 3 can't even run Google's
         | smallest LLM. Absolutely embarrassing.
         | 
         | They _REALLY_ need to unify the HW and SW development efforts
         | to create a coherent and functional product, instead of
         | designing them separately bazaar style then jerry rigging them
         | together like some underfunded start-up making products for
         | Kickstarter.
        
           | moralestapia wrote:
           | >Absolutely embarrassing.
           | 
           | So sad but this continues to be the case for Google's
           | incursion into AI. Why do they still keep Pichar around?
        
           | mupuff1234 wrote:
           | As a customer running on device is fairly low on my
           | priorities, and I assume that's the case for at least 90% of
           | users.
           | 
           | Would it be nice? Sure, but I much prefer useful features now
           | that could run on device later on if it adds value.
        
         | jpalawaga wrote:
         | honestly, it seems like every phone has its broken quirks. I
         | recently switched from iphone to android and there's still a
         | random collection of everyday things I do that are simply...
         | broken.
         | 
         | Maybe these devices have become so complicated they're simply
         | too challenging to work out all of the edge cases out of. New
         | features are easier.
        
           | Rinzler89 wrote:
           | _> Maybe these devices have become so complicated they're
           | simply too challenging to work out all of the edge cases out
           | of. New features are easier.
           | 
           | _
           | 
           | With the amount of telemetry and data Google is collecting I
           | doubt they can't catch edge cases, let alone recurrent bugs
           | that impact multiple users.
           | 
           | I wanted to buy a Pixel on sale last week but I watched a 6
           | month long term review of the Pixel and the reviewer
           | complained that every new update fixed some bugs but added
           | it's own new bugs.
           | 
           | It's why I'm still gonna keep using a phone that stopped
           | getting updates over a year ago: it's finally stable and no
           | more new bugs are being introduced by updates, as my mind and
           | muscle memory has already adapted to the old bugs.
           | 
           | Maybe I'm getting old but while 10 years ago I couldn't wait
           | for new major updates to arrive on my phone, I feel like
           | phone SW has peaked a few years ago and has been on a
           | constant decline ever since, with new updates just adding
           | useless crap that bugs you and changing things for the sake
           | of change without improving them, and I would much rather
           | have a phone that only updates security but nothing else.
           | Basically I don't want my phone to be a Googler's playground
           | and me being the beta-tester.
        
           | olyjohn wrote:
           | Not to mention all the Google shit on Android is just
           | constantly harassing you. LOOK HERE, LOOK THERE, SET UP THIS,
           | SET UP THAT, TURN THIS ON, TURN THAT ON, GIVE US FEEDBACK,
           | SYNC NOW, SIGN IN TO GOOGLE, LET US SCAN YOUR PHONE FOR YOUR
           | SAFETY, SIGN IN FOR SECURITY, SYNC YOUR PHOTOS, SYNC YOUR
           | DRIVE, USE AI FOR THIS, HERES HOW YOU DO THIS THING BECAUSE
           | ITS NOT OBVIOUS AND WE SUCK AT UI, GET UPDATES, WE DISABLED
           | PERMISSIONS ON OLD APPS, WE DID THIS FOR YOU, WE DID THAT FOR
           | YOU, POST PICTURES OF YOUR RECENT HOME DEPOT TRIP.
           | 
           | Jesus christ, I've had to dismiss at least 20 different popup
           | things just in the Messages app since I reset my phone a few
           | days ago. Just fuck off already!
           | 
           | And guess what. After resetting the phone, I still can only
           | make a successful outgoing phone call 1 out of every 3 tries,
           | and it will only work after a reboot. It worked fine after
           | the reset for about a day. Now, again, it barely works as a
           | phone.
           | 
           | Rodney Dangerfield was right. There is no fucking respect for
           | the people using the phones. There is only respect for the
           | stocks going up. Fuck you and give us money, that's what
           | smartphones are all about.
           | 
           | Yesterday I ordered a Nokia flip phone. I'm done with iOS and
           | Android. It has added nothing to my life except distractions
           | and maintenance. I spent 3 days trying to get this piece of
           | trash to work as a phone. Just a total waste of my life.
        
             | Rinzler89 wrote:
             | _> , I still can only make a successful outgoing phone call
             | 1 out of every 3 tries_
             | 
             | Which phone? Pixel?
        
             | onemoresoop wrote:
             | Harassment as a service. That comes from the advertising
             | mindset..
        
         | throw7 wrote:
         | I can't stand all the "AI" junk, especially when things worked
         | better in the past. My pet peeve: I used to be able to ask
         | google maps while I was driving "What's the E.T.A.?" and it
         | would respond with, you know, the answer. It's been broken for
         | many years now and responds with nonsense.
         | 
         | Another one: I can't tell my phone to change it's name to what
         | I want. Basic "AI" fail.
        
       | Mindwipe wrote:
       | While I think Google needs a better clear vision in many cases,
       | god help us that the people who have screwed up every hardware
       | launch for a decade now get to run the OS too.
        
       | resource_waste wrote:
       | I basically forgot that Google made Android.
       | 
       | Are they really making major contributions? Seems like Mobile OS
       | are basically stagnant.
        
         | Groxx wrote:
         | It gets less and less stable with every major upgrade, if that
         | counts. Achieving that takes effort.
        
           | danpalmer wrote:
           | Do you have some basis for this that you can share? My
           | perception is the opposite.
        
           | shrimp_emoji wrote:
           | Nah, that's just entropy.
           | 
           | Making UIs progressively worse beyond levels you though
           | imaginable, like Reddit or GNOME -- that's art.
        
       | coldtea wrote:
       | "Google is paninicking and chasing the latest buzzword" would be
       | a more descriptive title
        
         | beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
         | Also seems like some employees/exec has figured out the latest
         | promotion mill.
        
       | aerotwelve wrote:
       | > Under Rick Osterloh, a new platforms and devices team will be
       | dedicated to bringing AI to your phone, your TV, and everything
       | else that runs Android.
       | 
       | Who is asking for this? Why can't they just make their search
       | engine work again?
        
         | ceejayoz wrote:
         | > Who is asking for this?
         | 
         | Anyone who regularly uses Siri or "Hey, Google".
        
           | Groxx wrote:
           | You mean the thing that requires an internet connection or it
           | doesn't work?
           | 
           | And probably will continue needing internet for the
           | foreseeable future, regardless of how many mobile Tensor-
           | chips they develop, because cloud data and compute power will
           | always be orders of magnitude better than your phone?
           | 
           | That's the thing they need specialized mobile-hardware teams
           | involved for?
        
             | ceejayoz wrote:
             | > You mean the thing that requires an internet connection
             | or it doesn't work?
             | 
             | The AI? Or the phone?
        
           | Terr_ wrote:
           | Nah, I want them to first fix the basic shit I actually
           | (would) use.
           | 
           | For example, when I'm driving and a timed phone alarm goes
           | off for the Android phone in my pocket, I ask it to silence
           | the alarm, yet instead rebukes me by falsely claiming no
           | alarms are active right now.
           | 
           | It's fixed now that I checked, but for a while it would also
           | secretly ignore the date that I already specified for a
           | scheduled event while it was prompting me to clarify the time
           | of day.
        
           | badgersnake wrote:
           | So nobody.
        
             | shrimp_emoji wrote:
             | (It's only good for pranks.) Hey Siri, call the police. Ok
             | Google, call the police. Alexa, call the police.
        
         | summerlight wrote:
         | Or maybe, is it even a possible scenario that different teams
         | are working on different products?
        
         | antod wrote:
         | I can't help feeling that Google is trying hard to turn itself
         | into the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
         | 
         |  _Share and enjoy!_
        
       | dpflan wrote:
       | The comments here are trending towards "stop cramming 'AI' into
       | everything". I am curious how the end-user consumer (versus 'AI'
       | for enterprise/business) differ in experience and use. We are in
       | the beginning of this AI-fication, and it seems deep learning
       | models are doing really well and that DL can predictably scale
       | [1.]; therefore, do we have to wait a bit for really life-
       | changing AI for the end-user consumer?
       | 
       | I can see AI in enterprise/business being extremely useful in
       | different industries, but at the same time, is the current 'AI'
       | actually good/useful for the end-user consumer?
       | 
       | [1.] https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.00409
        
       | ykonstant wrote:
       | I'll wait for Advanced Platforms and Devices second edition.
        
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