Maybe OpenAI is crossing a redline for me

Another set of thoughts about OpenAI’s recent announcements, which trigger all sorts of reactions in me.

• OpenAI seems to be trying to be more like Apple; it’s obvious in their slides during their keynote.
• I think OpenAI shows courage by doing live demos of things that are clearly not ready for prime time. Since people would like Apple to return to live events, I’m not sure I want to see those kinds of failures, as they might overshadow the message.
• I saw a different Sam Altam during the keynote, who appeared more enthusiastic than usual, but it felt a bit off.
• Many of the new features are available only to Pro plans, which I’m not willing to subscribe to because they are too expensive.
• They make progress on their desktop app, but it still feels bloated, just like Anthropic’s desktop client. None of them are native apps, yet they brag about AI coding capabilities and still depend on Electron. Go figure.
• You might find Dots a cute name for agents, but the last thing I want from AI is to be cute. I would argue that I want an invisible AI.
• I still don’t see a use case for agents like Dots or Muse (Meta). I don’t trust that technology to take over my digital life, even for the simplest task. I don’t feel good about asking an AI bot to check off an item on my to-do list. And I certainly don’t want an AI bot to do shopping for me. BTW, who’s responsible for buying errors: the bot, the AI company or the one paying for it?

I haven’t felt this anti-AI attitude as strongly as I do this week. I wonder why.