You know what really frosts my flakes?
Being nagged to use AI every five seconds.
After years of resisting, I finally gave in and started renting Microsoft Office instead of owning it outright. Big mistake.
Microsoft 365 immediately decided that decades of my settings were obviously wrong and replaced them with whatever Microsoft thinks is best.
Now, every time I open a new document, I’m greeted with a giant box asking, “Describe what you’d like to draft with Copilot.”
Here’s a thought. How about absolutely nothing?
If I wanted someone else to write it, I wouldn’t have opened a blank document in the first place.
Google isn’t any better.
Accidentally press the wrong button on my Android phone and it cheerfully announces, “Your Google Assistant is ready to help you get things done.”
No, thank you.
I’ve somehow managed to survive more than six decades without a digital babysitter reminding me how to think.
Don’t get me wrong. AI has its place. I use it to proofread, brainstorm or answer questions once I’ve already done the heavy lifting.
But I don’t need it jumping out from behind every menu asking if it can do my thinking for me.
The part that really frosts my flakes is that these features often can’t be turned off.
Microsoft and Google are so convinced everyone wants an AI sidekick that they don’t even bother giving us a simple “Leave me alone” button.
Apparently, the future isn’t about giving customers choices anymore. It’s about making sure we’re all one accidental click away from letting a robot finish our sentences.
I’m Grandpa Grumpy, and if companies keep forcing AI into everything I do, pretty soon I’ll need artificial intelligence just to figure out how to avoid artificial intelligence.