talking smack about A.I. assistants and their personalities

Will Oremus is Slate’s senior tech writer, and he is just effing brilliant + helpful when it comes to breaking down ~happeningz~ in the tech world and how they actually apply to us normals, usually with a good helping of snark. The latest must-read is his analysis of A.I.* (artificial intelligence) assistants — like Siri and such — and how they are literally going to be “Terrifyingly Convenient.”

Best part of this is when he analyzes each A.I. assistant by personality, noting: “Google is a bit of an idiot savant.” Lollllll brb, I'll be busy trying to make “idiot savant” the trendy new insult over “garbage person.”

*Many media outlets style this abbreviation as simply “AI,” but as part of a public service, Deez Links is putting in the periods so that you don’t confuse the “I” with a lowercase “L” and accidentally call it “Al,” as in like, “Big Al” or “Fat Albert.” Not naming names, but some of us did that for an embarrassingly long time.

Deez Links advises that you have a safe word when reading about conspiracy theories on the internet.