AI in OS: A Predictive Text

T9

In a Rolling Stone article from April of this year, Billie Eilish lamented not learning to type on a keyboard as a kid: "I wasn’t that generation, and now I regret it... To be fair, my parents never taught me.” Outlets and comments responded to this revelation, blasting Eilish for making a broad generalization of her cohort.

Gen Z is a wide and diverse demographic; this TikTok post from Jordan the Stallion lives rent free in my mind. However, it is true that typing is taught less frequently in schools. My first year placement in graduate school was as a school social work intern with our local district, and I was immediately caught off guard when the schools didn't have dedicated or mobile computer labs anymore. I'm not very old, between Millennial and Gen Z, and I'd taken typing classes three times: 3rd grade, 7th grade, and 12th grade. As such, typing was never an issue for me, but my handwriting was. And studies suggested that handwriting, as compared to typing, helps in learning and literacy. My in-class essays bordered on illegible, but the content was usually solid. "You have doctor's handwriting!" slowly morphed into "You must type a lot" as the presumption of technology use emerged into collective consciousness.

There are many, many articles discussing and reflecting on Gen Z's touchscreen reliance, lamenting the lost art of mechanical typing. It's not exactly a new shift; as shown by this MIT article from 2011. Hardware developers are trying to adapt to younger demographics with mice and keyboards designed specifically for Gen Z. And there's also a healthy community of mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, dedicated to finding their favorite combination of switches and keycaps. This is the keyboard and mouse pair in my office. The Azio definitely makes for a good conversation starter:

I write this in reflection of the rapid evolution in communication as it is injected with AI. As prevalent as discussions around artificial intelligence have been these past several years, one of the potentially most meaningful changes is on the precipice of occurrence: The implementation of AI directly into the operating system of computers and smart devices.

QWERTY

Major tech companies are racing to integrate AI deeply into their operating systems, promising to transform how we interact with our devices and, by extension, with each other. I'm going to focus specifically on iOS and Android operating systems, but the same (or similar) features are in development for traditional computers:

Apple Intelligence

Apple is in a bit of an odd spot at the moment. They've launched their annual iOS update, but it's missing the core Apple Intelligence features pushed in advertising. The AI will be integrated into iPhones 15 & 16 and Macs (M1 or later) beginning October 28th. Some of the features:

• Writing Tools that rewrite, proofread, and summarize your text inputs, integrated practically everywhere you write
• Notification overhaul that automatically prioritizes where your attention should be and provides a summary of the content
• Smart replies to emails that promise a quick, detailed response
• Creation of "Genmojis"; emojis based on a text prompt that can incorporate pictures of individuals from your photo library
• An "Image Wand" that can transform your rough sketches into related images
• Seamless ChatGPT integration

Google's Gemini

Many of the upcoming features in Apple intelligence are already available through Google's Android. Communication can be completed by AI - Here's an interesting read from someone who communicated strictly using Gemini to draft their texts and emails for a week. The author highlights Gemini's capability to potentially "handle toxic co-workers, difficult supervisors, or that one person who needs to think everything is their idea" evidenced by drafting a decline to a trip invitation from the author's mother. The section is headed "World's Greatest Response?" Followed by "Everyday Texts Didn't Go as Well."

Another feature is Gemini Live, which "offers a mobile conversational experience that lets you chat with Gemini about whatever’s on your mind. Ask complex questions, explore new ideas or even brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree." Apple similarly promises "an even more capable, integrated, personal Siri." After writing about a similar technology, I'm left cynical and concerned.

Dvorak

Last week, I wrote about AI's integration in social media communications and pondered on the merits of authenticity in online spaces. I stated that sincerity mattered depending on the goals sought from social media, and the same could apply to smartphone and computer usage. However, our communications through private channels are almost universally more personal.

So perhaps authenticity and connection are not the lenses to gaze through. Maybe this is an attempt for efficiency. To make the 4 hours and 27 minutes per day that the average American adult uses their phone more productive. It will not be lessened; engagement is the pathway to profitability in the advertisement drenched digital ecosystem.

What could be lost? What's the calligraphic equivalent for human to AI authorship? An inability to formulate thought without an AI proxy? Scholarly journals speculate reliance on AI leading to inattention, reductions in critical thinking, and cognitive atrophy.

While AI promises to streamline our interactions, we risk losing the quirks and imperfections that make our communication uniquely human: the test may then be our ability to remain cognizant of when to lean on AI and when to rely on our own sincere, imperfect human faculties.

At one point, I stopped and took some three minute typing tests while writing.

• With my laptop's keyboard, I clocked 79 wpm with 97% accuracy.
• On my phone, I clocked 54 wpm with 97% accuracy.

Would love to hear your lightning speeds ?Ka-Chow?

Happy typing! *click* *clack* *click* *click*

Will Ard

LMSW, MBA

Website: technotherapies.com

Email: [email protected]