Technology

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

I just want to fucking drive. I don't need a conversation. Can we stop listening to dumbasses fresh out of their MBA program?

Perhaps one of the stupidest fucking ideas ever. "Let's add more and more and more distractions for drivers. A touch screen so they have to stop looking at the road! An AI to distract them with inane rambling, because we think that's an enriching conversation since we are also robots. Add that to the ads on radio fucking with you by being different volumes and having car beeping noises and shit in them and WE WILL FINALLY ERADICATE THE DRIVERS"

Fuck that shit.

So, they’re fresh off of rolling back their attempt to make everything a touch interface, which everyone hated… and they’re electing to go down yet another poorly-considered human interface rabbit hole?

That’s a bold move, cotton.

I’ll stick with my “stupid” 2003 Jetta 1.8T, thanks.

Why do we need "enriching conversations" built in a car at all? Aren't you supposed to be focusing on the road?

VW promises it won’t force you to create a new account or install any apps.

Not yet, anyway.

I'm sorry Dave. I can't let you do that

Volkswagen, voice command, emergency brake

"As a language model I..."

You WILL have AI in every device you own and you WILL enjoy it

ChatGPT is a cancer.

VW: so we listened to our customers, and we're announcing we're transitioning back to physical buttons on the steering wheel

People: yes!

VW: ...and integrating chatGPT into our cars!

ffs VW. I hope it's opt-in at least.

DotCom bubble 2.0

Who doesn't want spyware in their car?

"You haven't paid your leasing fee this month, ChatGPT will now start to tell bad dad jokes"

Should we invest the money from R&D so that our cars aren't just hard plastic shit boxes? No! Give them AI!

They can enrich deez nuts in their mouth.

This is so incredibly stupid. If I want to use ChatGPT, I'll use ChatGPT. Not, "If I want to communicate while driving, I'll use ChatGPT."

I don't need to chat with my car, I have friends. I need 3 pedals, steering wheel and gear lever, so I can use a car as a car.

Ok, VW what can you tell me about Dieselgate

Can Firefox make a car or something

"AI is a surveillance technology"

I'm very interested in machine learning, or AI as it's usually referred to in hyped-up content, and have also done research in the topic of generative AI. It hurts me so much that such interesting and useful technology has become another empty hype word. Nobody is waiting for this kind of gimmicky shit. It does nothing but hurt the public's view of this technology, similar to all the copyright issues and privacy concerns. Why must companies take things that can ultimately do something good in some cases and apply it to absolutely everything with no regards for the impact on their customers.

Most companies don't need "AI" and would be much better of spending those resources on actually improving their products. Useful places for generative AI would be something like Photoshop incorporating it, or a video game with better AI or more natural NPC conversations. Not some gimmicky AI assistant in a car, or some annoying AI chat window bothering you when visiting a news site. Soon people will be completely done with all this gimmicky "AI" bullshit and the useful applications will constantly have to deal with the stigma created by these greedy mindless corporations forcing "AI" on everyone in places where it adds nothing.

I can see AI being a powerful tool but not for conversations - and certainly not enriching ones

I’ve always wanted to be able to get information about landmarks as I drive. If I drive by something that has a Wikipedia entry my car should offer to read the summary to me. Unfortunately, ChatGPT will probably be saturated with hallucinated information for a fraction of the minor landmarks I inquire about.

inb4 someone gets arrested for some shit they admitted to a chat bot in their car

so now in top of entertainement systems on videos, soundsystems, drivers will be distracted with bot conversations. Awesome.

thanks vw that is very useful... How to pay attention to the road, and others road users already fragile (pedestrians, cyclists, motocylists) on a 1,5T rolling living-room-sofa ?

A car is already too much considered as personnal property and "vital space", yeah it is a good idea to give drivers more of this "personnal bubble" feeling. /s if it was not explicit enough

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Volkswagen is jumping on the generative AI bandwagon by announcing plans to install OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its vehicles starting in the second quarter of 2024.

Vehicle owners can use the new super-powered voice assistant to control basic functions, like heating and air conditioning, or to answer “general knowledge questions.” (Though, given ChatGPT’s penchant for occasionally making stuff up, user discretion is advised.)

Most vehicle voice assistants are pretty rote, able to do things like turn on seat heaters or window defrosters — but lack conversational skills and typically fall short of more complex navigational requests.

ChatGPT and other large language model chatbots have been known to serve up false information, and OpenAI is being targeted in a number of defamation and copyright infringement lawsuits.

The company’s Cerence Chat Pro software will enhance VW’s voice assistant so it can “provide relevant responses to nearly every query imaginable.”

Despite being one of the biggest automakers in the world, VW had a rough 2023, including disappointing sales growth, software malfunctions, and layoffs.

The original article contains 542 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

First thought: out of touch execs adding features no one asked forand can find on their own if they really want it to justify price increases and higher profits.

Second thought: what kind of AI software do they really want to use that they are using chatgpt to justify having the hardware there for?

Maybe to offer self driving support in the future. More likely to improve the quality of data they can sell.

Know what feature I'd really like to see in new cars? No data connections other than maybe Bluetooth, though I don't have much confidence they'll use an implementation that isn't riddled with long-fixed security holes. Though a secure Bluetooth implementation could be a feature! Same with secure remote unlock that uses cryptography instead of a signal that can be sniffed and spoofed. Also the ability to blast hot air at my windshield without having to run the AC. Physical buttons for all car and environmental controls, plus volume, track skip and ff 15 seconds that Spotify can understand. And a screw hole intended for a phone mount.

Don't worry about a touch screen, you (most car companies in general) suck at both designing software and choosing hardware that isn't underpowered for what you want to do with it. I don't want a piece of tech that is just going to annoy me every time I have to use it.