How do Bay Area locals really use AI?
Originally published on September 18th, 2024 for the SF Gazetteer
Last month, Google briefly became the subject of widespread derision after spending millions on an Olympics ad for its AI chatbot Gemini. The spot featured a supposed-to-be-heartwarming tale of a father asking AI to write a letter from his daughter to her running hero.
Olympic watchers were unimpressed. Who wants to receive a fan letter written by AI? Isn’t the purpose of parenthood to teach children how to express themselves, not outsource it? Google pulled the ad before the end of the games.
Goldman Sachs estimates that investment into AI will top $200 billion globally by 2025. Analysts are predicting that tech companies will spend a trillion dollars on AI over the next few years. All of this AI development will likely have a massive negative impact on the environment.
Many of these developments will be embedded into enterprise software, customer service platforms, and data organizing programs for business use. But much of it, like Apple’s new AI products, will be consumer-facing, even if, ironically, AI-labeled products turn some consumers off.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many of the billions being invested in AI are targeting consumer uses. But it’s clear that many companies are putting AI at the front of their value proposition to consumers. LinkedIn has “write with AI” in its post box. X, formerly known as Twitter, recently added an AI image generator directly into its product. This summer, Apple announced its new AI product early, after being accused of falling behind on AI.
I’ve been increasingly curious what all those consumers are actually doing with these products. So I spoke with six Bay Area residents about their use cases, to see how they stack up against the economic, environmental, and existential impacts the technology has already begun to have on our world.
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Jesse Klein 