All my tech devices have chatbots now – I'm not sure how to feel about AI

I have a confession to make – I hadn't actually used a Copilot+ PC until this week. It's one of those big changes in the PC world that can be hard to get to grips with – until you're actually testing a device that includes Microsoft's new button right there on the keyboard, heralding a new age of AI (that's artificial intelligence, for the uninitiated) help on your machine.

Now, though, I've got my hands on a device I can't talk about yet, one that has Copilot built right into it. It's prompted me to do some thinking about the degree to which big tech device-makers are buying into AI chatbots and interfaces as The Next Big Thing. It's not just Copilot, either – the age of AI chatbots has long since started, and they're starting to seep into every category of device.

Last night my LG C2 OLED TV applied a software update – something I wasn't going to stand in the way of, in the hopes that it would make what's already one of the best OLED TVs out there a little better. It's part of the five-year upgrade promise from LG. It added a few new features in webOS, and didn't change much visually, so I've got no complaints, but I noticed that the TV now has a chatbot feature – if I want it.

Since then, I've been trying to think of a situation when I'd actually need to use that chatbot (which itself is somewhat questionable in terms of actually being AI at all). I've come up with basically nothing, with the major caveat that I'm tech-literate and already know my way around the TV's settings menus. I can see why some people might find it handy, though, as you can, for example, just say "make the picture brighter," or "take me to my favourite cooking shows," to get results.

However, my personal take applies to most implementations of chatbots – I just can't quite work out what they're for. Even moving away from hardware, online chatbots are routinely more likely to frustrate me than they are to solve my problem, and I've long wondered why Amazon, for example, now has its Rufus chatbot placed so prominently while you're shopping.

Rufus is particularly confusing given Amazon already has the extremely well-known Alexa brand and identity to exploit – which is expected to be updated at a launch event this month. I can only assume that in almost all of these cases that internal data and metrics must be showing that people engage with the bots, and have positive outcomes in terms of dwell time and spending.

Indeed, I can believe that there's a category of users out there who leap into chatbots as a way to get around trawling through settings and menus, and that the bots can be helpful in that context. Still, I'd probably rather those menus were legible and easily navigated in the first place, as a simpler solution (and one that would stand the test of an internet outage, for instance).

That brings us to an interesting recent example of how chatbots might actually not be quite what they're cooked up to be. Bowers & Wilkins has long boasted a design icon in the form of its Zeppelin speaker, but for the very recent hardware refresh after years without changes, it made one noticeable tweak.

The new Zeppelin Pro Edition, which T3's Tech Editor gave a glowing five-star review, actually removed its Alexa voice control capabilities compared to its predecessor. The company said it was because users simply didn't use it. In addition, one can assume it made a judgement call that it just wasn't worth the cost to include.

From a user point of view, speakers and soundbars that include voice control can be a minefield, since your TV's audio will occasionally include words and snippets of dialogue that risk an accidental trigger of an always-listening AI assistant. That's not to mention the queasy thought of that always-listening setting in the first place, depending on your perspective.

This gets to the heart of the matter for me. I have an Echo Dot with Clock speaker in my kitchen that I use literally every day to control cooking timers with my voice – a circumstance in which the device's voice control and AI responsiveness are demonstrably useful. I just don't quite buy that my TV needs a similar feature, or my soundbar, or my home speaker, with the associated data requirements and terms of use licenses to agree to.

While the boom in interest for the likes of ChatGPT and other chatbots doesn't seem to have crossed over into any form of decline yet, I can't help but suspect that it'll come in time. Much like the way we were all promised the Metaverse would change our lives from top to bottom, before that concept faded away in the face of its realistic current limitations, AI helpers are in a similar struggle to prove their value when integrated into devices.

After all, if the only people pleased that AI's been included are a board of investors, it might not be the most enduring of additions in the first place.