Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Name me a Luddite, however my eyes glaze over when a product claims it has an “AI-optimized” design. Whether or not it’s advertising oversaturation or a rising existential dread as AI threatens to take over each my profession and my hobbies, the phrase goes into one ear and out the opposite as simply one other buzzword, although AI is altering the world as I write this.
This got here again to thoughts just lately after a viral Reddit post confirmed a screen protector with an “Optimized for AI” badge on the field. After some investigation, it seems to be a regular tempered glass screen protector from AmazingThing. I assume it’s as “Optimized for AI” as a screen protector might be, because it’s only a skinny piece of glass.
However that is simply the tip of the iceberg on the subject of questionable AI claims on non-tech merchandise, so be a part of me as we dive into the depths of a brand new age of selling slop.
AI all of the issues
Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
I first seen this pattern final 12 months with phone instances. I usually take a look at instances for our lists, and Spigen was one of many first to slap the AI moniker on its instances. For instance, the Spigen Tough Armor (Ai) MagFit case is nearly similar to its predecessor, with a magnet as essentially the most subtle element. No horrible AI companion is hiding in there.
The itemizing claims it has “AI-enhanced XRD Foam placement through LS-DYNA Take a look at,” so I assume the AI is sprinkled in there in the course of the design section. When trying on the instances side-by-side, I couldn’t let you know what’s totally different concerning the XRD Foam placement, however I actually hope a skilled engineer checked the AI’s work earlier than it went into manufacturing.
Corporations have slapped AI badges on all the pieces from phone instances to toothbrushes.
There are some merchandise the place some stage of intervention nearly is smart. Oral-B’s Genius X electric toothbrushes use “AI Brushing Recognition” to let you know whenever you’ve missed a spot whereas brushing your tooth. I really feel like that is one thing my natural mind may deal with, but when it retains 9 out of ten robotic dentists off my again, I’m keen to offer it a shot.
Then there are issues like Brisk It AI-Powered Grills, which have built-in Wi-Fi and an AI assistant that will help you grill to perfection. Personally, fatherhood has given me a brand new appreciation for observing a rack of meat in solitude for hours at a time, however when you’d quite stare at temperature readings in your phone, extra energy to you.
However there’s one product that I discover so egregious that I’m nonetheless attempting to wrap my head round it. Enable me to introduce you to AI golf golf equipment.
Promoting AI Smoke
These are Callaway’s AI-enhanced irons. No, these golf equipment received’t play golf for you, nor have they got an built-in assistant that will help you deliver down your handicap. As a substitute, they use AI within the design section, much like Spigen’s (Ai) instances.
The corporate claims it used AI to investigate swing knowledge of 1000’s of golfers to discover a design that “promotes most distance with tight dispersion into the inexperienced.” It calls this expertise AI Sensible Face, which is becoming since you’d should be a complete dumbass to buy into it.
Do not buy into the hype of AI-enhanced merchandise.
Additionally becoming is the identify of the product itself — Paradym Ai Smoke Irons. Sure, Callaway’s advertising division is actually promoting AI smoke to customers, and it isn’t ashamed to confess it.
So let this function a lesson to all of us: Don’t buy into the AI hype for many merchandise. Generative AI is one factor, however on the subject of all the pieces else, from AI-optimized screen protectors to golf golf equipment, most of it’s simply smoke.
