I feel bad that long ago I "taught" my mom to use Google because at this point every time I see her look something up on her phone 100% of the results that she looks at are Google AI Summaries and Sponsored Links.
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@pervognsen I went for a lesson with my (non native english speaking) tutor last week and she said oh good, I need help with my computer.
she pointed me to her open laptop screen, which had just freshly done a Windows update, and as a final step, it had popped open Edge with an advertisement for CoPilot
something like, "next step is to <marketing call to action here>" but to her it sounded like her computer was broken and she had to follow those confusing instructions.
@pervognsen I closed it and said don't worry about it, that was just an advertisement.
she thanked me profusely and replied with gratitude, "how did you know it was an advertisement?", hoping to become more computer literate
but I was at a loss for words. I was unable to explain how to tell the difference between an advertisement and necessary computer maintenance because I realized in that moment that the only reason *I* can tell is the cynicism and distrust that I've accumulated over time...
@andrewrk @pervognsen I think that, for me, it is mostly because I usually already know what these features are. And if I don’t, I usually just assume it is an ad and something I don’t need/want. But they are certainly sneaky.
@andrewrk
@pervognsen
thus spake Master Foo:
"when you have learnt to find the real download button among a sea of download-button-lookng ads, it will be time for you to leave"
@wolf480pl @pervognsen goofy and yet somehow also deeply saddening
