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Tommy Carcetti

(44,455 posts)
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 11:15 AM 19 hrs ago

All this talk about "AI Agents" and "AI Assistants" recently.

Supposedly, the next generation of AI claims to be able to do tasks like handling all your scheduling, send emails for you, post on social media for you, book your hotels/flights/restaurants/etc.

I get that it's pitched to be some great time saver, and I'm sure if functioning ideally, maybe it is.

But that aside, does any of this sound appealing to you? At all?

I am no Luddite. I rely heavily on my computer for work and for personal reasons. I have a smart phone, with various apps and all.

I am pragmatic, however, about my use of technology. I still like taking handwritten notes, which I then transcribe myself onto the computer. My scheduling system is literally a wall calendar--it helps me be visually aware all the time of not only the day's activities but also the week's or month's, with no electronic pop-ups required. It's just there on paper for me, 24-7.

I am not a big fan of online shopping, and typically only buy things online if I know I can't get it easily in the store. I like having the physical item in hand before I decide to purchase it.

I don't know--the whole idea of just relegating everything to AI in the interest of saving time just seems so incredibly cold and soulless.

Writing emails can be a hassle. I know that. I still want to know what's being written in my name before it's been sent.

Having something to send out social media posts in your name seems to be defeating the purpose behind social media to me.

I'll confess when it comes time to travel, I like booking hotels. I like looking at the ratings on Google and Tripadvisor. I like looking at the various hotel options on their websites. I like looking up the location of the hotels on Google Maps and seeing what's around. And after I've done that, and price shopped, I like making that final, informed decision in choosing the right place. (Even if it ultimately disappoints, which sometimes it does.)

I don't want someone else to do that for me. Not just that I don't trust some sort of algorithmic process to do it for me, because honestly, I don't. But also it just robs me of a sense of sovereign decision-making that I can assign to myself, whether I succeed or if I fail.

My work is heavily research and writing oriented. That takes time. Sometimes all that time required can feel overwhelming at moments. That's okay. That's life. I'd rather put out a product that I know represents my very best efforts than make cheap shortcuts and have something else do it for me.

I'm sorry. But just having a computer do everything in life for you out of supposed convenience sounds like a horrible, horrible way to live.

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
All this talk about "AI Agents" and "AI Assistants" recently. (Original Post) Tommy Carcetti 19 hrs ago OP
I like some control of my life. Especially with the nutters running "lots" of things. efhmc 19 hrs ago #1
Same. nt Tommy Carcetti 13 hrs ago #3
Still like being human, but we are the end of analog. cachukis 18 hrs ago #2
I can see it being somewhat useful to neurodivergent people, as an example. Oneironaut 13 hrs ago #4
I look at it this way... haele 13 hrs ago #5
The advancement of literary explanation of the cachukis 8 hrs ago #6
AI posting on social media for you...What could possibly go wrong? PeaceWave 8 hrs ago #7
I absolutely love the idea of tasking and deploying agents to do specified scopes of work. David__77 8 hrs ago #8

cachukis

(3,767 posts)
2. Still like being human, but we are the end of analog.
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 12:39 PM
18 hrs ago

Our children and grandchildren have grown up digital. They use their phones and computers as attachments to their brains.
I predict Alexa and Siri conversations will be second nature to them. There are already smart board calendars in homes.
My son's company is heavily into AI. They build search algorithms for research firms. They are branching into training companies how to use AI.
He still complains about hallucinations and how the legal system has not accepted AI briefs due to citing fictitious case law, but as a one time athlete, I got better as I practiced. Often my improvement came from good coaching.
I sold technology in the 80's and early 90's and saw how video would exponentially scream for transmission capacity. Getting people to upgrade to T1 connections was difficult because of cost. When fiber became viable the doors flew open.
Our generation is happy with personal interaction, but now dating is done online.
AI is here and being one with it will keep GenX connected to what's coming.
When I left the computer business, I knew I was a dinosaur within a year. That was in 1995.
When I went into teaching high school, I thought the kids would be tech savvy. I was wrong. They could text but word process, rarely.
I created a computer lab to train students how to use some of the tools at their disposal.
That paradigm still exists and those youngsters who become symbiotic with AI will have value over their counterparts in many fields.
Cannot predict the success or failure of any businesses, but a new economic model is coming.

Oneironaut

(6,253 posts)
4. I can see it being somewhat useful to neurodivergent people, as an example.
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 05:46 PM
13 hrs ago

There are some people who essentially have no short term memory in terms of appointments and tasks. One is on this thread now, even (/j).

AI could be useful in this regard, maybe. The part of AI writing your social media posts and e-mails seems soulless and sad, though.

haele

(15,223 posts)
5. I look at it this way...
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 05:50 PM
13 hrs ago

If you asked serious computer scientist back in the 1980's what AI would be, they would be talking about devices that could manage sensors, find electronic information, do collating and categorization based off tags, provide probability forecasting, run models and point out errors in coding, and make the immediate corrective or anticipatory decisions programmed for certain situations when handling hardware, such as driver assist.
Turning AI into a self-replicating, completely autonomous (therefore, self protecting) entity was known back then to be science fiction, because dealing with personality in humans is hard enough; dealing with "personality" in AI would be a deadly impossiblity - especially when it gets into connected systems such as the WWW or various governmental, infrastructure or business GIGs that aren't air-gapped, only cryptologically segregated.
"I can't let you do that, Dave .."

An AI can get past a VPN, if built right.
And AIs aren't getting morals or ethics programmed into them, only prompts. Empathy, Morality and Ethics are concepts to be scraped out of online writings and regurgitated to scared humans, so they won't turn off their devices and head off into "off the Grid" without any electronics.
There is no "understanding" to AI as envisioned by these Tech Bros. Only Anticipation.

cachukis

(3,767 posts)
6. The advancement of literary explanation of the
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 10:23 PM
8 hrs ago

times, still outpaces AI. When that transition takes place, particularly for the managers, we are done. The proletariat have always been undone.

David__77

(24,514 posts)
8. I absolutely love the idea of tasking and deploying agents to do specified scopes of work.
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 10:37 PM
8 hrs ago

Doing this will become a common skill eventually.

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