I’ve been struggling with how to word my stance on AI with regard to my email service, Port87. Today I sat down and compiled some research to quantify my stance on it, and why I won’t be using it.

What made me want to do this now more than ever is the recent announcement that Gmail will now use AI to read your email and give you a summary instead of just showing you your email. You know, because human beings can’t be bothered to decide whether an email is important without an AI risking their security to tell them they need to pick up their dog from the vet.

  • Leon@pawb.socialEnglish
    16·
    2 days ago

    I don’t see LLMs poking around in my mail ever being a good or useful thing. None of my emails are long enough that a summary is helpful, and I don’t want my private stuff being sent off to a server to be processed and catalogued as training data.

  • Zikeji@programming.devEnglish
    7·
    2 days ago

    I know this is off topic but the thought of relying on an email to know when I can pick up my dog from the vet is appalling. My vet calls me and as soon as I see the caller ID I’m out the door lol

  • sepi@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    I don’t read email. Mostly it is spam. One or two messages arr useful for a login or account registration. I am sure many people treat their email the same way.
    So google is gonna waste time and energy giving my emails to an ai - when I ignore all the email anyway. This sounds smart.

    Google folks are in the “they are so smart that they are stupid” camp.

    • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      10·
      2 days ago

      It feels like email was useful fifteen or twenty years ago. Now it’s just receipts and appointment reminders.

        • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
          5·
          2 days ago

          And newsletters you technically signed up for… well, more like, were tricked and deceived to accept. It’s the opt-out style we see on every site.

          If 99% of the recipients never consciously consented to receiving the newsletter, how valuable can it really be to those who send them? I don’t think people even read their emails very much, so it’s not very likely for that 1% to even see the newsletter.

      • hperrin@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        51·
        2 days ago

        If that’s all you use it for, then that’s all that will be in there. Email is as useful as you make it.

        • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          2 days ago

          Most of my friends have moved away from email in preference of instant messaging. Emails are rarely answered, but IMs typically get a quick response.

  • Zier@fedia.io
    3·
    2 days ago

    Artificial Intelligence is aptly named, it’s fake. Computers are only as smart as you program them to be.