Matisyahu's Blog

The end of another week which has been uneventful however I have been following the Google I/O conference and the Microsoft Build conference – AI obsession has reached fever pitch but at least we’ve now moved beyond the novelty of asking a chat bot the meaning of life with a focus on actually using it for something useful to those of us occupying the real world. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Apple WWDC given there have been many rumours swirling around the internet that their whole business plan around where AI fits in has been rebooted from the ground up – if it means that it is delayed to ensure that they get it done right then I don’t think too many consumers are going to care one way or another.

The problem is that there are far too many tech YouTubers, stock bros and tech journalists who convinced themselves that their echo chamber represents where the average person actually is in terms of caring about AI – such groups make noise but to the average person that I interact with daily I don’t see them clambering nor talking about the absolute importance of AI to their life but instead whether a particular feature that is added benefits them in their every day life. Too many in the press have convinced themselves that this is an iPhone moment and Apple is playing the role of Blackberry then the stock bros are micro-dosing themselves into a new dimension while convincing themselves of their own hype – meanwhile the real of the world continues on, Apple will continue on regardless of whether they trail the AI of other tech companies simply because in the consumer space the whole AI isn’t as important as the stock bros and tech bros make it out to be. This is only the start with a lot more that needs to be done to make it useful to consumers outside of novel demonstrates on a stage – the first mover isn’t always the one that wins in the end nor does their necessarily have to be only one winner or a small group of winners.

When it comes to Microsoft it appears that the big focus is creating revenue streams now that Windows 11 is more or less free given that most get Windows 11 with a new computer (and upgrades are free) so that means they have to get revenue from somewhere. Part of that is turning Windows into a gateway to Microsoft services – Office 365 and the bundling of AI (along with making AI more energy efficient) will add more value to the idea of getting an Office 365 subscription as Microsoft tightly integrates Windows 11 and the cloud to fill in when on the device based AI is limited in what can be accomplished. It is also interesting seeing how Windows is developing, gradually making changes, moving the platform forward while making it clear to developers that the age of ‘do nothing and your software will work for eternity’ is coming to an end. I was hoping that maybe the MAX_PATH limitation would be addressed at this point but I guess that will be something I’ll perpetually complain about in much the same way I complain about Safari/Webkit along with a few other complains I have of Apple in regards to their platforms.

Google has had their own conference with their own focus on AI and how it integrates into their products and services. To be honest I was more excited about Google’s I/O due to the lack of Windows 11 desktop related stuff at Microsoft’s own conference – Android, Gemini, the implementation of web standards, the use of Gemini nano models within Chrome itself in a variety of areas which are being use of by AI orientated web APIs such as Rewriter API, Writer API, Translator API and Summariser API along with many more that are being developed not to mention the use of AI in areas of security.