• dreugeworst@lemmy.mlEnglish
        9 months

        it says you need to have smart features on for this to work. I went looking for how to turn it off, but aparently in the EU, UK, Japan and others it’s off by default

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      Plus the options are frequently hidden and unclear.

      I thought disabling One Drive on my Windows machine would keep it from syncing to the cloud. Nope, it just changed where the files were stored but Windows copies it to One Drive even when One Drive isn’t running.

      In the case of google, I assume that turning off the Gemini bullshit doesn’t have any impact on it copying all the content to their servers even if you don’t see it happening.

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        9 months

        but Windows copies it to One Drive even when One Drive isn’t running.

        I don’t understand why users and our justice system let them get away with this. This is malicious. Your operating system is literally literally malware. It does not respect your choices and it steals your information.

        • normonator@lemmy.mlEnglish
          9 months

          That’s just untrue though, onedrive doesn’t work like that. I’m not saying Microsoft doesnt steal data either, but onedrive isn’t required for that. In fact it can suck so hard it won’t sync shit while running.

          Defender can literally submit anything it wants to Microsoft by default and doesn’t hide it.

    • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      to shove it in people’s faces who would never go out of their way to turn it on. probably like 99% of people.

    • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      Maybe the even more important question: Why can you even opt out? Why is this not done on-device, without anything going anywhere to begin with?

      I mean, I know the answer, you know the answer, everyone knows the answer. If this was truly privacy preserving, there would be no need to opt out.

  • Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    9 months

    A single message now generates 20 different summaries and analyses, requiring a rack of GPUs and a diesel generator.

    We’re so lucky that electricity is unlimited and free, otherwise it might’ve caused a serious problem.

    • kshade@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      Don’t worry, this stuff is why companies like Google want to build and run their own nuclear power plants. What could possibly go wrong?

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    9 months

    Most email is short. I don’t see a need to summarize it. Google is run by idiots and assholes.

    • Evotech@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      Ai will write complicated long mails, you’ll need an Ai to summarise it

    • iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      9 months

      I put a tl;dr sentence or two at the top of any e-mail more than a couple of paragraphs. Sometimes for those too.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      9 months

      ive actually used it at work for stuff like “when did Wendy approve the design? did she send it to brian?” when I have 5 different email threads over 3 different organizations, with 10 different respondees. But in personal use I would never.

      • dermanus@lemmy.caEnglish
        9 months

        If mine could do that “find me the approval email for x last week” I’d use it, but if outlook had a decent search I wouldn’t need it.

      • Ushmel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9 months

        I’d settle for AI clipping out everyone’s redundant signatures, .gif logos, comic sans bible quotes, and everything else packed into email that people use as direct messaging. Or my coworkers could just use WebEx for chats instead of emails.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9 months

    Eat more AI! We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this fucking garbage, so EAT IT! Yeah! It’s in your email! It’s in your car! IT’S IN YOUR TEETH (launch date: Q2 2026)!

    • glaber@lemm.eeEnglish
      9 months

      You jest, but I’ve already seen “AI-powered” toothbrushes on shelves. Let’s give even more health data to corporate giants!

  • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9 months

    You go ahead and waste resources on summarizing the 200 emails a day in my spam account, you fucking morons.

  • manxu@piefed.socialEnglish
    9 months

    It’s so weird that we have to go through hoops and loops to get rid of this stuff! I was sick of my Android responding to a long press of the power button, meant to shut it down, with a Gemini prompt. Took me an hour to figure out I can’t get rid of the function, but I can switch back (for now) to old style Google Assistant.

    If you have to force functionality down your users’ throat despite them not wanting it, you already lost. Gemini is Google’s Clippy, just less iconic and more also-ran.

    • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
      9 months

      If you have to force functionality down your users’ throat despite them not wanting it, you already lost.

      As much as I’d like to think so, they’re not stupid, they know what they’re doing. They cram it in your face to make sure you know it’s there. And most people don’t care.

  • secret300@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    9 months

    How the hell can they even afford that?! There are so many Gmail users and so many emails a second and Gemini will summarize them all? That sounds so expensive and like a waste of resources

    • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      9 months

      It is, but the bubble mustn’t burst or the grifters will stop making money selling “the end of skilled labor” to braindead capitalists.

      • dumbpotato@lemmy.cafeEnglish
        9 months

        Actually, investment in AI is necessary for competing with other nations.

        The “end of skilled labor” selling point is just to cover up that fact that we need AI because other nations will have it.

        Countries are modern-day fiefs.

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.mlEnglish
          9 months

          Alright, let’s tear this idea apart in plain, no-BS language. The whole “we gotta invest in AI to keep up with other nations” argument is like saying you need the flashiest new phone just because your neighbor got one—even if your old phone still works perfectly fine. Sure, some countries are all-in on AI like it’s the latest craze, but that doesn’t mean we have to jump on the bandwagon and mess up our lives.

          The whole “end of skilled labor” hype is really just a cover-up. People have been doing amazing work with their hands and brains for ages—long before AI even existed. And let’s talk downsides: more people losing jobs, a privacy mess, and decisions being made by glitchy algorithms that might not give a damn about real-life problems. We didn’t need AI to build everything we have today. We’ve been doing just fine without handing over our lives to a bunch of computer code.

          So, if you’re buying into the “we need AI to keep up with the cool kids on the global stage” nonsense, you’re ignoring the fact that the smart move might just be hanging on to good old human skill. Instead of racing into an AI-fueled chaos, maybe we should just keep doing what we do best—using our brains and common sense.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      Google makes a lot of money, and summarising stuff uses a surprisingly small amount of energy. You can do it trivially on-device on a laptop and on plenty of phones.

      When it comes to LLMs, training the models is generally the thing that requires ridiculous amounts of energy.

      This is dumb as fuck, though. I don’t want Google’s LLM to miss out critical details in my emails. That shit could be important. If people want this they should opt in.

    • hddsx@lemmy.caEnglish
      9 months

      Meh. I can’t find a good sub for YouTube and Gmail is my “uh oh did I mess up my email server back”.

      I’ve been considering hush mail. I don’t like Europe. I’d rather move to Canadian

      • muusemuuse@lemm.eeEnglish
        9 months

        Canada isn’t going to be a safe bet in the long run. They have a reprieve for now but they always end up doing whatever America does just a few years later.

        • hddsx@lemmy.caEnglish
          9 months

          I’ll take my chances. I don’t have enough of a connection to Europe to put full trust in Europe. Maybe if the Netherlands wins euro 2025

    • iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      9 months

      I run my own email and I have to say I wouldn’t recommend it.

      The biggest hassle is dealing with either Spamhaus or Microsoft, who apparently at random decide to put my IPs on blacklist, and who provide hurdles to working around this (for Spamhaus) or just say “no” (for Microsoft).

    • mrpres@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      9 months

      Would having aliases be a good way to bypass when a website denies your emails from your domain (which is known occurrence for who self-hosts their own email system)?

    • kokomo@lemmy.kokomo.cloudEnglish
      9 months

      Mega brain move right here. Combined with a multitude of open source web mail clients and ur golden. SOGo and roundcube my beloved.

    • atlien51@lemm.eeEnglish
      9 months

      Your new dentist/GP practice when you try to sign up?

      @ Thunderbird? What is that?

    • Jimmycakes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 months

      We should opt into little tech. A guy in Venezuela just trying to buy a couple days food will read your email and summarize it for you!

      • GreatWhiteBuffalo41@slrpnk.netEnglish
        9 months

        This made me think of the South Park episode where they’re hiring people to replace the Amazon Alexa and stuff.

  • kazerniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9 months

    Ok this is the first step where I feel an actual urge to look for Gmail alternatives. (Been a Gmail user since like 2007.) I’m a desktop-only Gmail user, but I can see where this is going… :/ Also heavy user of Google Drive and Sheets, so it’s going to be annoying if I have to replace all of them :/

    • 6nk06@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      9 months

      For me it was: Gmail to Tuta, Drive to Filen.io (some cheap German guys). But Sheets would be the most difficult. Maybe Zoho or Infomaniak? Infomaniak has the complete package IIRC.

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
    9 months

    In reply to all of the complaints here: I’ve never seen anything about Gemini on my Graphene OS device. 🤷‍♂️

      • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        9 months

        Exactly.

        Communication with people is hard enough already without an LLM deciding what parts are important.

        Idiots using LLMs to write emails to people using LLMs to summarise them. It’s just slop all the way down.

      • zqps@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        9 months

        Despite efforts to the contrary, PC is still an inherently far more open platform, with better alternatives available.

          • normonator@lemmy.mlEnglish
            9 months

            I can fully encrypt my PC/BIOS password/secureboot if I have Linux on it. If I relock my bootloader with Android then I’m completely fucked if anything goes sideways. If I leave it open the phone gives a fucking warning on boot that the phone is unlocked and may be insecure and that warning can’t be disabled or locked. (Pixels)

            I hope Android gets taken away from Google, 11 was the last somewhat useful upgrade.

            • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              9 months

              In my opinion the last great was Android 7. Just getting more locked down since.

              But also it was kinda funny when manufacturers left over some of their software. I think it was ZTE which had a hidden menu to change the fucking IMEI.

              • muusemuuse@lemm.eeEnglish
                9 months

                Why would you admit that where others can potentially use that information to attack your device? Some cards you have to play close to the chest.

          • cygnus@lemmy.caEnglish
            9 months

            Linux is a better alternative to windows than, e.g., LineageOS is to android?

            It’s true. Camera apps for example are much, much worse than the OEM version.

          • zqps@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            9 months

            I’m saying it’s better known and more accessible.

            PCs are fundamentally designed to be OS-agnostic, Android hardware is not.

  • Retro_unlimited@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9 months

    So this is why I got an email that was completely wrong.

    I told a guy I used to work for that I moved and it’s the perfect place to help him and his company.

    He replied that he hopes I found a house where I used to live.

    wtf it’s like he never read the email at all, now that this AI trash was added, the email makes sense.

    I guess he is fucked and doesn’t get the help he needs for his company.

  • killeronthecorner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9 months

    Turned off by default in EEA, UK, Japan and Switzerland, for anyone interested (had to login to find out).

    • mrpres@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      9 months

      Anyone wondering what they have in common: EU (i know its not the same as EEA, there are countries like Iceland non-member of EU but part of EEA and they have their own GDPR through their own Private Act) has GDPR, Japan has APPI, UK has UK-GDPR, Switzerland has FADP

      Whats intriguing is that Canada has DCIA and Brazil has LGPD and I don’t see it being mentioned to be turned off by default in either countries