God, if there was only one AI thing that really drives me up the wall, it has to be those frickin’ AI voices. They make a video literally unwatchable for me.
I saw an odd pattern that probably has an easy explanation (views). While I was looking for reviews of a certain newly launched car model, I saw A LOT of videos where all they did was repeat the manufacturer-supplied information with stock photos and videos from the manufacturer, using those gaudy and cringe-worthy AI voice overs, while providing nothing new or of substance. They weren’t reviews, they were just… telling us the same thing we already knew. Like, those videos existed for the sake of existing.
The funniest part were all the generic channel names. Auto Review, Car News Now, Gear Review, random stuff like that.
It is some of the laziest and most… cash-grabby type of thing and I found it so weird and annoying. I think it’s meant as a cheap and fast way to get views without doing any actual work, but the algorithm wasn’t favouring them. I don’t think I saw a single one of those videos listed with more than 1,000 views. Many had less than 100 views, and that was despite being uploaded days or weeks prior to the search. They probably just asked some AI “make a script about such-and-such car”, copy-pasted whatever it threw out without even looking at it, made the AI read it, and called it a day. Wow, such value.
Like, I don’t really like my own voice if I’m being honest, but I’d rather read a script myself than make an AI do it. It’s authentic.
I used FreeTube to search for reviews for that car, and I don’t think it favours YouTube’s algorithm as much, so I was seeing weird nonsense like that. And there was just so much of it, it made it hard to find actual good content when I had to weed through all that sloppy nonsense. Like, for every legit video made by someone who could actually see and drive the car, there were probably five or six slop videos.
To add to this, I think this is why so many “smart” appliances/products have companion apps (I speak from my own thoughts so I don’t use certain language).
For example, we had a perfectly good, ordinary air fryer (which is essentially just a miniature convection oven). But, my dad got a “smart” air fryer with WiFi connectivity and a companion app. All it really does is allow for remote control and send notifications when your food is done cooking, but you should not be leaving these things unattended to begin with, so the app’s usefulness is questionable at best.
I have a sneaking suspicion that much of this is done to enable data collection. For example, they could hypothetically learn how frequently you use it and when, and then silently track your browsing history to suggest sponsored recipes. They could also have deals with other companies who are more specifically interested in user data. It’s yet another avenue for data extraction.
I personally would not download these companion apps. They’re generally not necessary and if they are, there’s often an alternative product that does not require it. I’m of the opinion that an air fryer does not need an Internet connection. I feel that if remote accessibility was the true purpose, there should be an ability to access the device over a local network, rather than going through a server somewhere else.