Chrome AI Playback: Delightful, Wild and Disconcerting

Chrome's Android mobile browser has added an AI overview feature that generates marketing content on the fly for web pages.

I barely noticed the little icon and even when I did, it wasn't obvious what it might be for, curiosity got the better of me and I clicked.

Delight and fear followed. It almost sounds as if the models generating the dialogue could have been trained on NPR content.

Here is a recording of the audio.

In our attempt to make the concept behind the Certisfy app approachable, we settled for wordiness within the app that explains every feature in accessible language. This ends up working well as a source for AI summary and playback.

The disconcerting feeling for me stemmed directly from the delight I felt listening to a compelling AI pitch for Certisfy! A feeling of "it is too good to be true", even when the AI distillation of the service is quite accurate.

The polish of the dialogue is such that we could in effect post this to social media and claim media coverage even though it is entirely AI generated and I suspect most people will fall for it.

Brave new world...and dare I say only makes the case for an internet compatible information verification capability. We are going to need it for so much.

Comments

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