>For example, if you ask ChatGPT’s Agent to book a travel, it’ll open Chromium on Linux in an Azure container, search the query, visit different websites, navigate each page and book a flight ticket using your saved credentials. An AI Agent tries to mimic a human, and it can perform tasks on your behalf while you sit back and relax.

Big tech has repeatedly shown that they are not good stewards of end users' privacy and agency. You'd have to have been born yesterday to believe they'd build AI systems that truly serve the user's best interests like this.

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binsquare 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think in this case, Microsoft has shown they don't respect the user when they force shutdown for system updates. This has happened during my time working retail and the mom and pops are helpless when this happens.

I would never trust Microsoft to bake ai agents in..

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tbrownaw 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> shown they don't respect the user when they force shutdown for system updates

Are you familiar with the prior state of things that explicitly motivated this change?

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a2128 44 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

The amount of money lost when millions of small restaurants and other retail shops suddenly become unable to accept customer payments for an unknown amount of time because Microsoft thinks Windows should force update during rush hour rather than allowing the computer owner to wait until closing time, would seem to be far greater than the amount of money lost with once-in-10-years WannaCry attacks

	▲	makeitdouble 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Don't you get out of forced updates if you set yourself regural update point ? (e.g. every Sunday night) Most users, for better or worse, don't want any update ever, unless they wish for a specific feature. We're at a state where there's only once-in-10-years massive attacks exactly because of mandatory security updates that will be forced on the user if they have no intention to install it ever.

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malfist 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why does that matter? I should be allowed to explicitly chose the risks I want to take. Not microsoft. Especially not for microsoft to decide, no matter what I'm doing, or what I have open and unsaved on my computer, now is the time they think my risk is too great and tuesday has passed, so reboot reboot reboot.

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mapontosevenths 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Are you aware that MS already sells an operating system that can install patches without rebooting? Are you also aware that Linux can do the same? Why can't a supposedly mature 40 year old operating system do the same? Do you have any concept of the number of man-hours it would save globally? The amount of lost work? The impact on patching compliance and security?

My guess is they don't actually believe they have any competition, and therefore don't care to improve anything that doesn't also improve their bottom line.

	▲	testartr 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		every week when I login into my Ubuntu with unattended updates enabled I see this: "system restart required". the hot patch feature you mentioned is paid

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jwitthuhn an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes the security of every Windows computer was much better then, any software that automatically updates itself without user consent is obviously a massive security risk because the user is no longer in control of what software they run.

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guelo 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Security is the catchall excuse for every bad big tech behavior because they know "security" professionals will defend every f-the-user move they pull [1]. Is it improved security when I lost days of work because microsoft (and you apparently) think their patch is more important then my data? Notice, by the way, that security incidents can cost big tech a lot of money but my lost data is no skin off their back.

[1] It reminds me of dermatologists, so hyperfocused on skin cancer that they tell everybody to hide from the sun, completely oblivious to all the harm their advice causes to the rest of our health.

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01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not really. Maybe I'm jinxing it, but I've never had a problem caused by failure to update my PC.

Servers I understand because they're exposed to the Internet at all times. Not PCs

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p_ing 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Lest one remembers Win 9x or even XP w/ no firewall on residential networks.

	▲	hunter2_ an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's interesting how much different the landscape was in that era: single-device residential environments would have no firewall at all (just a PC with a publicly-routable IP address) and dial-up kind of fueled this due to PCI slot modems, but as the outboard nature of DSL and DOCSIS modems made it easier to build multiple-device residential environments by adding a router, suddenly everyone had a firewall (as a byproduct of NAT). Then you've got malware, which was far more prevalent on PCs through that transition relative to today, but now we've got IoT stuff probably not being updated as it ought to be, potentially hosting malware that serves as a proxy to sidestep an in-router firewall.
	▲	AlexandrB an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Behind a NAT. Can't remember a single problem with the described setup and I've been using the internet since dial-up was the only option available. Getting hacked when you don't have any open ports (thanks to NAT) is and was pretty unlikely - what was more likely is some kind of drive-by exploit in Flash or IE. The biggest problem I experienced with old Windows was general instability in the form of BSODs and driver compatibility problems.

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tjpnz 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wouldn't trust a big tech AI agent to act in my own best interest. How do I know I'm getting the best deal and that they're not clipping the ticket? Given so many of these companies are really ad-tech/surveillance businesses, how do I know that they're not communicating information about me to the travel site which might affect the price?

	▲	AlexandrB an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> How do I know I'm getting the best deal and that they're not clipping the ticket? You should actually expect the exact opposite. There's more money in getting large companies to pay you to redirect customers to more expensive products than in consumers paying for this kind of service. Honey[1] should server as a stark reminder here. [1] https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/software/honey-scandal-e... > According to Megalag and other content creators, Honey's core promise isn't true. PayPal and Honey say they'll run through a series of coupon codes to find the best deals. However, the firm is accused of using inferior codes to ensure the retailer gets more money from the sale while promising the user that the best code was used. > Megalag tested this in his video and found instances where better codes were readily available online, but Honey chose to use a code with a lower discount, claiming it was the best deal.

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krackers 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think it's hilariously tone deaf that travel booking and shopping are the two examples of "agentic" AI that keep popping up.

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Terr_ an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I think there are two factors:

1. "Help customers buy crap" is one of the vaguely plausible use-cases which excite investors who see the ads, even if it isn't so exciting for actual customers.

2. The ideas seem sourced from some brain-trust of idle-rich, rather than from the average US consumer. Regardless of how the characters in the ads are presented, all of them are somehow able to prefer saving 60 seconds even if it means maybe losing $60 on a dumb purchase or a non-refundable reservation at the wrong restaurant, etc.

	▲	thewebguyd an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> The ideas seem sourced from some brain-trust of idle-rich , rather than from the average US consumer I think it says more about the economy currently. The "average US consumer" is the wealthy right now. Just 10% of the population, the highest earners, drive nearly 50% of consumption currently and that number is growing. That is the new average US consumer, hence the ads and use cases targeting a more well-off demographic. Everyone else has been left behind.

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isodev 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The main reason I shop online is the joy of hitting that Buy button every now and then for something I want. I don’t want some dumb bot doing that for me (and getting the wrong thing 2/3 of the times)

The real chore is having to go to the store to get groceries, doing laundry, pairing socks etc … but solving any of that would require more than just bullshit LLM capabilities.

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anon_cow1111 3 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Every time I hit a "buy" button it brings nothing but horrible anxiety over what future bullshit I'll have to deal with, either because the product will be garbage or the seller will be garbage. And that's after doing an hour of more research for every god damn thing.

Getting groceries is practically relaxing at this point

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ronsor 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> get groceries

Isn't that what grocery delivery apps are for, if you really don't want to go to the store.

> doing laundry, pairing socks etc … but solving any of that would require more than just bullshit LLM capabilities.

Yes, it's a shame robotics (hardware) is harder than software, but that's not really the fault of AI model developers.

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isodev 2 hours ago | parent [-]

You kind of missed the point of my comment but ok

> not really the fault of AI model developers

It’s their fault for pushing all this crap in all the things and misleading their investors that there is actually “intelligence” in what we now call AI.

> grocery delivery apps are for

These are not popular here and for a good reason - you need to enjoy your food and it starts by picking the right ingredients yourself.

“someone packs a bag for me and delivers it to my door” is just moving the problem somewhere else, not actual innovation.

	▲	abracadaniel an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They always mess up a few things, make brain dead substitutions, or get low quality produce. I had bags show up smelling strongly of cigarettes. All for a premium price, an app that takes a surprising amount of time finding things on, and the complete loss of discoverability.

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testartr 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

searching for a flight and booking it is legitimately one of the most painful online things that exists. it's like the booking industry is feeding on suffering

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Jcampuzano2 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Because for the average person there isn't really that much they get out of todays agentic ai. This is all project managers can think of that applies to the average layperson.

It's just shitware being added to everything at very few people's benefit just so they can score some points on the stock market AI hype leaderboard.

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wiredpancake 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]