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_ 2 hours 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 9 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 28 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.