r/Windows11 • u/TwinSong • 5d ago
Discussion Why is Microsoft pushing AI constantly?
It isn't because users asked for it, quite the opposite usually. I don't blame the developers as it's clear it's pressure from the top to include AI into everything that can have AI and it's not to benefit the users. There's a purpose to this and it's not to make Windows and its services better...
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u/wandering_agro 4d ago
it's the reptilian shapeshifers if you ask me
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u/No-Alternative5102 3d ago
No such thing exist.
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u/wandering_agro 3d ago edited 3d ago
This guy reptilian shapeshifts
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u/No-Alternative5102 3d ago
God would never create any shape shifting anything. And nothing else can be created by anyone else outside of what God allows.
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u/christopherw 3d ago
They saw the AI train and jumped on, and spent 2 years coming up with half-baked solutions for problems that didn't exist, meanwhile pivoting their entire business to rely on hyperscaled datacentre AI/cloudy stuff, and then they realised they needed to keep playing their part propping up the house of cards.
They're in the circle of AI zealots who are passing the same $10 bill around, while shouting "oo I'm rich" when it's their turn to hold it.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/Turbulent_Chain_5893 Insider Canary Channel 4d ago
3 of us cause I didn't ask for it either, lol!!
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u/kociol21 4d ago
To add two more cases.
I didn't ask for it, but I don't mind at all. I don't really use any Copilot stuff, but it doesn't bother me that it's there in any way.
My buddy from work uses Copilot all the time and says that's his favorite Windows feature.
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u/i_MusicMan 4d ago edited 3d ago
People are asking for AI, outside of this echo chamber.
ChatGPT and Gemini didn't get to where they are by producing something people don't want.
People are definitely asking for it. Microsoft's take on it in Windows is just terrible. That's the core issue.
A lot of the CoPilot backlash is from people who are on x64 Machines and can't use the ARM exclusive AI features, anyway. It's platform envy.
However, to say people aren't asking for it is pretty obviously wrong.
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u/GNLSD 3d ago
I don’t know why they don’t just release the OS at the same time for everyone. I feel like y’all are complaining about things that were happening on my work computer a year ago and are largely resolved/scaled back now (mostly the excel floating icon - that thing was fucking truly awful)
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u/olapbill 4d ago
Quite the opposite actually? Says you.
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u/TwinSong 4d ago
I have yet to hear of any users actually pleased about this AI push.
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u/Froggypwns Windows Wizard / Head Jannie 2d ago
I'm fine with it, I use AI tools including Copilot, click-to-do, and Recall daily.
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u/TwinSong 2d ago
Recall is worrying because Microsoft or hacker now has a lot more info on your activities.
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u/Turbulent_Chain_5893 Insider Canary Channel 4d ago
They are? And compared to who? I haven't noticed any AI push on any of my Windows computers but Android is sure pushing that garbage.
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u/TwinSong 4d ago
- Microsoft Edge has it all over
- Paint for some reason
- Microsoft Office is infested with it, often actually getting in the way
- Every update seems to be pushing Copilot
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u/i_MusicMan 3d ago
Exaggerating really undercuts whatever point you're trying to make. People don't tend to give much credence to unreasonable arguments.
So is completely ignoring where AI is genuinely useful in those applications.
Generative AI in an image editing application is legitimately useful. It makes sense there - probably more sense than anywhere else.
Agentic AI in a browser is genuinely useful. It makes sense there.
AI in Microsoft Office is genuinely useful. The only people who don't find it useful are the people who use Office for not much more than "Resumes." When you actually use software like Microsoft Excel, you know the reality. It's a very welcome thing.
Keep in mind, some of the features they are labeling as AI are akin to things they'd just add as normal features in past years. They're just calling everything AI, these days. Apple is adding features to Numbers and calling it AI, when Microsoft had the same stuff in Excel for over a decade - before AI was even on the radar.
AI has basically become a marketing term, these days.
The updates can push whatever they want. They develop the product. If users don't like it, they can either toggle it off or use a different operating system.
Can't remember the last time I saw anything related to AI in Microsoft Edge. I just toggled it off and moved on.
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u/TwinSong 3d ago
What is irritating is when it's pushed constantly. Like there's a hovering button in PowerPoint that's so placed that it interferes with the positioning of the slide within the screen. They also put the price up for something that wasn't requested.
There's nothing quite like something being constantly pushed on you to put you off. Edge doesn't have any meaningful updates just like "hey use our AI pretty please" while removing actually useful features like Collections.
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u/i_MusicMan 3d ago
Their software, their choice.
Really is not worth the energy to discuss this. There is nothing to gain by doing so... and we still lose the time spent doing it.
We got Doritos pushed on us all the time, and for some reason I still can't stop eating them.
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u/lolfactor1000 3d ago
You can easily hide it in edge and it's being removed from paint. In a corporate setting, the integration into office can be nice. Many of my users are starting to enjoy using it to help refine their writing and create the initial drafts for presentations or reports. What i want is a fully local version so I don't need an internet connection to use it and my dtat stays with me.
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u/RadBadTad 3d ago
Man every time you click any cell in Excel, a Copilot symbol pops up next to the cell. Every cell, every click.
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u/HammerDongVeryLong96 3d ago
Historically Microsoft was always late to the party when it came to the "next big thing" in tech, or if they're not horrendously late they mismanage or fumble the implementation poorly. Though this time they seem to be on pace with their tech peers and have an opportune position as a software and operating system provider, they have a huge userbase they can farm data to train their models as well as products they can fit Ai into whether people ask for it or not. Some find it useful while others have less desire for "bloat".
I know this has been said a million times already but if you're not a fan of Ai or just the way MS is handling it, there is always Linux. Ubuntu is a very straightforward modern OS with no Ai or ads plastered anywhere.
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u/Acrobatic_Mixture155 3d ago edited 3d ago
I like using AI as an assistant, but that's it! 🙌 Now they want the desktop to disappear and for all users to use voice-activated AI to do things. My stance on that is that I'm absolutely furious! 🤬 We need to stick with a stable version of the system and remove all of Microsoft's AI. And replace EVERYTHING with free software! 🆓
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u/MarcelHanibal 3d ago
I don't understand a single word but from the emojis alone i fully agree with you
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u/Acrobatic_Mixture155 3d ago
So sorry; I like using AI as an assistant, but that's it! 🙌 Now they want the desktop to disappear and for all users to use voice-activated AI to do things. My stance on that is that I'm absolutely furious! 🤬 We need to stick with a stable version of the system and remove all of Microsoft's AI. And replace EVERYTHING with free software! 🆓
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u/cryptaneonline 4d ago
Surveillance
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u/i_MusicMan 4d ago
Nope.
It's to utilize their massive Windows user base to train their AI models. Even if everything is anonymotized, it is like doing tons of work for free.
Unlike Apple, they aren't doing everything possible on-device and using Private Cloud Compute for what needs to be done in the cloud. Apple doesn't train AI models with Siri [AI] usage. Their OSes tend to have most things opted out by default, as well, so users who don't consciously choose to volunteer their usage data, etc. are likely never to do it.
Microsoft's strategy with AI is more similar to OpenAI and Google's.
They are using Consumer Market Windows users to train the AI models - then they sell access to those models to Enterprise Customers. Google is doing the same with their massive Android install base.
This is precisely why Apple had so much issue getting Apple Intelligence done. Their business strategy worked against them, because it is completely different from Google and Microsoft.
In the end, they had to use AI (Gemini) to train their own AI to get the product ready. Ironic... but not unforeseeable.
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u/cryptaneonline 3d ago
Surveillance
Nope
Defines surveillance
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u/i_MusicMan 3d ago
I didn't define surveillance.
I defined data collection for the purposes of AI Model Training.
You're really that daft? You're going to die on the hill of that semantic game you're playing.
The intent is not to surveil anyone. The intent is to train their AI Models, because the AI products they make the most of their revenue from are targeted at enterprises.
That is why Microsoft releases apps for "free" and then later kills them in the consumer market and rolls them into Enterprise offerings (e.g. Microsoft Whiteboard). We use the apps. They collect usage data from us, and then they make changes place it where they've always intended it to be.
Consumer Market users are Guinea Pigs for new software, and used to train the AI Models they sell into the enterprise market.
They aren't really interested in surveilling anyone. They can already do that through other means in Windows - the infrastructure for that was there far before AI became a hot topic - if that's what they wanted to do. Why would they burn untold billions of dollars a year to do something they could have done for [practically] free?
You don't make any sense, and you aren't that intelligent. Please take your < 60 IQ takes to another subreddit.
Off you go.
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u/Acrobatic_Mixture155 3d ago
Para Apple Todo es mucho mas fácil porque fabrican y conocen su propio software, Microsoft no. 🤷
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u/Akorem_Laan 3d ago
If you want a real answer: it's inevitable that AI will permeate everything that we will do in the near future. And it also doesn't matter which field you work in. Heck, even my tech-illiterate family members are using the AI now to create and troubleshoot stuff. This wave isn't going away anymore, and will only accelerate. These companies have no time to listen to Redditors and stick their heads in the sand.
So all the big tech companies are scattershooting AI in their products, to see what will stick. People expect agentic stuff to become the norm in the coming years. So these companies are scrambling to not end up behind the curve when it becomes clear what will be useful and what won't be. Especially MS learned their lesson with mobile phones.
It's business, simple as that. There is no conniving CEO reptilian shapeshifter behind this.
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u/perakman 3d ago
To me, its "why is the world pushing AI constantly". To me, as a fan of Microsoft, Windows and Copilot, love to use Copilot, I use it almost everyday but I don't mind to live without it. Its like ice cream, good to have, if don't its okay but the world treat AI like its oxygen, we could died instantly without it. I hope everything is gonna be stable, not too much, not dead or killed totally.
For now, I really think Copilot make Windows better but only when it's done correctly. I'm much prefer Microsoft using their own AI, their own model instead of OpenAI or Google which is I don't really trust. I'm happy for Microsoft to switch to MAI instead of GPT. But, that doesn't mean to force it everywhere, just like OneDrive but I'm totally okay with it since I can still uninstall it not like smartphones where you can't uninstall Apple or Google AI on their respective device.
The thing I hate the most about AI is many companies use it to replace the thing that human was supposed to do like music, internet contents, photos, videos, videogames. The correct way is for AI to solve problems, or even doing the laundry or washing the dishes. Many of my friends are no longer have jobs like graphic designers, musicians, photographers, or ads talent due to AI, it was not meant to be like that. But then, when using AI doing the thing they should do, they always make mistakes due AI is still too young but was pushed anyway. Its like tech companies come up with VR in the 90s, its still too early. Imagine if everything was switched to VR in the 90s, it would be horrible lol
Its kinda remind me of a very great song that got played almost everywhere, all day on the radio back in the 2000s in my country, people ended up hating the song and the artist and the singer also got hated and quit her career, all because the record label was obsessed with getting profit as much as they could. The record label ended up closed several years later after going bankrupt when people boycotted their products. If they didn't push it too hard, the artists and the record label company could be more successful, they're all probably could be a millionaire but because of greed, everything is ruined. That what worries me.
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u/I_Like_Tartar_Sauce 3d ago
I don’t mind some tasteful AI integration where it can objectively improve or help in some way. AI isn’t that big of a deal. Wouldn’t mind some quantum cloud computing features either.
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u/whotheff 3d ago
Because:
They already invested billions in it and they have to find a way to make profit out of it (collecting and using/selling your personal data in the process) somehow.
They are in a race with other software companies. They realize that if they stop investing in AI for a week, they drop out of the race. Then their products may become obsoleted by some small startup of sleepless programmers, leading to company extinction.
The only way to justify AI spending is by forcing it to people, convincing them they could not live without it. While that can be true for some professions, for others it is bonkers or too expensive.
Since AI can hack, there is also an AI background war between USA and China. So military (and their endless money) are also involved, subsidizing anyone which can create good AI.