AI Is Not A Miracle: It’s Just A Mediocre Sidekick You Can’t Fully Trust
Hello everyone. Apparently, we’ve reached the stage of the tech hype cycle where companies are desperately trying to convince us that AI is an omnipotent force destined to revolutionize our lives – right up there with penicillin, the wheel, and sliced bread. Except, when you corner them and demand, “Alright, show me something tangible,” they tend to mumble out examples so bland you’d confuse them for reheated leftovers. And yes, my friends, reheated tech hype gives you just as much indigestion.
The Verge decided to tackle this parade of vagueness head-on. Victoria Song and her merry band of gadget gladiators took AI tools, poked them, prodded them, and found – surprise! – some real-world uses that didn’t feel like a bad infomercial. And while these instances weren’t exactly “history-redefining,” they were at least functional. Think of them as minor health improvements, not radical surgery: your life still runs like an underpowered GPU in a AAA launch week, but slightly less crash-prone.
The Genuinely Useful Uses They Found
- Bedtime Assistance for Parents: AI helping with bedtime routines so parents can reclaim those precious 27 minutes of evening sanity. It’s not magic, but it’s better than child-wrangling solo on “final boss” difficulty.
- Planning Complex Life Moves: Coordinating a cross-country move with AI? Sure. Think of it as having a quest log and fast travel options – though you’ll still be the one hauling the loot.
- Internet Search Supplementation: It’s like having a squadmate in a co-op game, except they occasionally shoot you in the foot. Always verify the AI’s “helpful” answers.
- Quick-and-Dirty App Coding: Need an app for your tabletop RPG? AI can “vibe code” something that mostly functions. Think procedural generation: hit-or-miss and occasionally producing… eldritch horrors.
The Rough Edges
Now, don’t get the wrong idea – these trials weren’t without bugs, and not the fun speedrun kind. AI still stumbles, fumbles, and occasionally faceplants. Whether it’s giving dubious advice or serving up something entirely unrelated to your request, the underlying truth is that AI is like an intern with infinite enthusiasm but a caffeine addiction and no concept of consequences. Yes, it’ll finish the job faster – but you’d better double-check before handing it to the client.
The Reality Check
In the grand conspiracy theory of “AI will change everything,” this is the subplot where we realize the tech isn’t omnipotent; it’s just another tool with quirks and limitations. Big Tech sells AI like it’s a legendary loot drop – reality delivers more of a green-tier uncommon. Not useless, but nobody’s queueing up at midnight for it. The problem is, when you let the marketing department take over, they promise a full raid clear when in fact, you’re just getting solid DPS support.
Final Verdict
Do AI tools have purpose in everyday life? Absolutely – if you integrate them sensibly and don’t expect them to single-handedly win the campaign. Treat AI like that dependable guild member who occasionally needs to be reminded where the objective marker is. It’s not the future incarnate, it’s a slightly better spreadsheet, a moderately helpful bedtime storyteller, and sometimes, a janky app dev assistant. The hype will keep inflating it to cosmic proportions, but for those paying attention, it’s just another step in tech’s long, grinding XP grind.
My verdict? Moderately good – functional in some contexts, still wildly overmarketed.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
We found stuff AI is pretty good at, https://www.theverge.com/podcast/756701/ai-tools-chatgpt-gemini-vergecast.
