Sven AdemiNov 14, 2023
Oliver Reichenstein

Add ChatGpT to your product, label ChatGPT as "myAI" and your product looks and works exactly same as 100,000 other things.

It makes my head spin to watch that lemming race to the bottom. Everyone is doing the same thing and no one thinks about what can be done against this insane downlevelling. No one thinks at all. Who suggested that suicidal tactic to you? ChatGPT? Microsoft?

Nov 14, 2023 at 1:12pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023

Foreseeably, the next step in AI integration will happen on OS level.

In the mean time, your app will always run an inferior version compared to whatever Microsoft's sells. If having ChatGPT is your sales point, you have no sales point. You only have a very volatile, very expensive ticking time bomb dependency.

On top of that, you corner yourself into dishonesty if you sell ChatGPT as your own AI. It's bullshit and you know it.

Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023
We're aiming at Monday to show our modest, careful answer to the AI hype. We're swimming hard against the stream, once again.
Show threadEric BowersNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein I love this! You folks always do it right.
Show threadStephen FarrugiaNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein only dead fish go with the stream
Show threadLionel RudazNov 17, 2023
@reichenstein can’t wait
Show threadStephen FarrugiaNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein and you'll never have any concrete definition of "inferior", just a version number
Show threadRyuno-KiNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein Rumors have it that Microsoft plans to replace the start menu with CoPilot 🤷
Show threadChristian TietzeNov 14, 2023

@reichenstein Not sure if it's really a race to the bottom? It's definitely a shitty start. And I do get the reference you're making and don't believe that the venture is worth exploring or funding.

It sounds like the classic MVP startup problem. Show passion and something remotely working to investors, take tons of money, done.

So my answer to your question is: Silicon Valley

Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023
@ctietze I'm not just talking about startups. Plenty of established products pivot to AI, and flatten their distinguished character to look and work like everything else, including the quick shots from freshly squeezed startups.
Show threadChristian TietzeNov 14, 2023

@reichenstein Ah ok. I'm thinking of #Nextcloud adopting AI assistants and Buffer here, for which I don't get why they believe this should be a 1st party feature. 🤷‍♂️

Do you believe there's a reason or utility to be had to dig further into finding a "why" that goes beyond "it's the current hype"? (I personally don't assume there is, but that might be cynical and lazy)

Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023

@ctietze Likely, AI can make whatever task your app offers possible without thinking. That goes hand in hand with the old UX mantra "Don't make me think".

People hate to think and offering something that seems to do it for us is a great sales proposition. Only artificial stress, the brother of thought, is a sweeter deal.

In some cases, like Photoshop, it's a blessing. In other cases, like ours (our apps are designed to make thinking as pleasurable as possible), it's straight away suicidal.

Show threadBastian AllgeierNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein I've been saying the same thing. What happens if ChatGPT increases their API prices by factor 2 or 10 or whatever they like in a few months? You can't simply self-host this stuff. What are you going to do? Pay? Remove a feature you heavily promoted for weeks? It's incredibly short-sighted.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023
@bastianallgeier Likely, a lot of companies are betting on building their own instance. Looking at how Bard is doing I have my doubts that a small startup or a mid sized tech company can pull it off in the foreseeable future. It might not be necessary though since it'll run on OS level sooner than later. Apple rumours already point that way.
Show threadJohananas🍍Nov 14, 2023
@bastianallgeier @reichenstein what’s the way out of this? Building software in-house with similar capabilities is sth. Big Tech can do. Smaller companies will depend on the best value for money. I share the concern though, hoping for multiple competitive products out there. OSs already today standardise features that many products out there don’t have despite super high user expectations. It will all be clearer once the hype dust settles.
Show threadOliver ReichensteinNov 14, 2023
@jo @bastianallgeier Likely it will be, like spell checking, part of any operating system. More importantly we need to make sure that our apps offer something that cannot be automated to the point where what we offer becomes superfluous on an OS level.
Show threadPhil ReesNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein I know someone who's using ChatGPT to write proposals and code while gloating over the money their saving by not employing troublesome humans who don't do as their told. I'm gleefully anticipating schadenfreude when the cunning plans fall apart.
Show threadFlorian WeidnerNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein similar thing with product + AI = $thingAI aka the same thing as before but a little bit more sketchy. It's wild.
Show thread𝕚𝕒𝕞𝕕𝕥𝕞𝕤Nov 14, 2023
@reichenstein Distributed AI. Okay. What's then? With internet and IoT we reached everything is connected. Now everything is controlled? I'm exited about things happening day by day.
Show threadChris HeilmannNov 14, 2023
@reichenstein also see: "you need an app on iPhone"
Show threadDavideNov 15, 2023
@reichenstein But you know… AI!