We've had a good shake at those brand new AI assistant things, and people aren't warming to them as much as companies like. It seems that people just aren't enthused about bringing up their assistant to ask it a question or to find something online. Which is bad news, because big companies have sunk a lot of money and effort into this venture.

But wait a minute; what about, instead of having people approach the AI, the AI can approach the person? That way, people don't really need to do anything themselves; it's the AI that does all the heavy lifting. And maybe, just maybe, people will turn around on AI. From what we can see about how companies are now approaching AI, this may exactly be what they're planning, and the easiest way to create a "companion" that doesn't require prompting is a glorified news reporter.

People aren't that excited about using AI as it is...

It just wasn't that enticing

Companies have been going all-in on AI lately, but it doesn't seem like it's making much of a return on it. Microsoft poured a lot of effort into making Copilot+ PCs a thing, but as spotted by Windows Central, the reason people are buying these AI-powered machines is because they're a good hardware upgrade. They don't care about the actual AI processes at all, which is something our Editor-in-Chief echoed in his review of the Surface Laptop 7.

Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers research manager Jitesh Ubrani had some choice words about Copilot+ machines:

“While AI has been a buzzword of late, it has yet to be a purchase driver among PC buyers. Businesses certainly recognize the importance of AI though many struggle to see the immediate use case and instead are opting for AI PCs as a means to futureproofing."

...so companies are bringing AI to the people

Make people realize how powerful AI can be

I want to analyze this key part of Jitsh Ubrani's quote: "Many struggle to see the immediate use case." I understand this notion; when Copilot arrived on my PC, I opened it up, played around with it for a bit, and then closed it. I then promptly forgot about it and continued using the tools I always had with me in my daily life.

In fact, now that I think about it, there were many cases where I hopped on an AI train and then got off at the next station. When ChatGPT came out, I used it for a bit, then dropped it. Then there was ChatGPT-4o, with the cool voice thing which I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with it, and then dropped it again. The key is that AI didn't really stand out as a "must-have tool" for me, and it seems others share my sentiment.

The solution? Make AI reach out to the people. And the easiest way to do that is to turn the AI into a news reporter. Every so often, the AI will list everything happening in the world, and the user can listen in and see what's up. Theoretically, you could have the AI give its report at specific hours, much like how the news comes on at a set time. It's like a little news reporter, except it's tailored to what you're interested in and fires whenever you want it to.

So, where's the proof? Well, we already have Google Gemini's new tool that summarises information. Feed it whatever you like and it'll discuss the topic between two podcast-like hosts. There's the "Remarkable Alexa" leak from Amazon which shows that the e-commerce giant wants to make an Alexa LLM that generates news pieces and gives sports scores. And earlier today, Microsoft announced Copilot Daily which breaks down the day's news and creates a quick and easy summary, complete with external links.

This is likely how AI companies will try to make that "immediate use case" that people are struggling to find. Have the bot go out and do all the heavy lifting for the user, then give reports at set times without needing to be prompted. That way, AI takes a more consistent presence in people's lives and isn't just forgotten about.

And now, the weather

Companies are equipping us with all the tools we need to use AI, but from the looks of it, we're simply not using it. As such, there's a good chance we'll begin to see AI processes that chime in by themselves, and what better way to do that than with periodic news reports? As time goes on, we may see AI take more of a proactive role, bringing information to us like a data-driven butler. Until then, we'll have to see how this new wave of news reporters will fare.