WTT #2 - GPT 5 was warm , Microsoft hates your keyboards, Meta is "Her"
Hey everyone 👋
Welcome to another issue of What The Tech series - going strong I guess :D
This week was quite full of launches, news, and new problems everyone needs to worry about. But as per usual, I want to focus on the top things that I believe one should care about.
Again, as always, the goal of this series is to be a two way street - and your comments and questions will allow me to improve it over time.
Please feel free to ask your tech questions down in the comments - to be answered in the next issue.
Let’s dive in.
Story 1: GPT-5 Rollout was unimpressive - and that’s a good thing?
Links to refer to:
Sam Altman admitted GPT-5’s launch has been “bumpy.” The problem: every new model is expected to feel like a revolution. But the big leaps haven’t shown up for a while.
Month over month Open AI was ‘iterating’ by releasing over a dozen models that all had the number ‘4’ in them. So when the news hit that 5 is the hot new thing? Expectations were high - and results were, well broken.
First of all, the new model has its personality stripped away. In my own use, I haven’t felt that difference because I use custom instructions - but for folks who use it out of the box - many have complained that GPT sounds like an ‘overworked secretary’. Maybe coz, it is? Not sure.
Then on the other side of the spectrum, the AI gurus, the hyper optimizers, complained that they had tweaked their perfect workflows using different model options that were removed due to the launch of 5. And they want their menu of confusing options back - damn it.
And you now have OAI saying they are bringing back at least one of the options back - 4o, or was it o4 - do you even care? Probably don’t.
To wrap it up - OAI is basically in a rut. On one side, users thanking their GPT is costing them millions - and on the other end, believe it or not - OAI is still not making any profit.
From a product angle, I think this was OpenAI forcing simplicity. Too many model options = wasted compute. One default model means cost control.
But if you’ve lived on the internet long enough - you know that once folks get used to something, it is hard to take it away from them.
I think overall, I am kinda happy that ‘5’ is the defacto option now, from a business POV.
What I reckon will happen now is that GPT won’t release 10 different flavors of 5 for open use. And instead if you are someone who is a prosumer - go buy their API. For the rest of the plebeians, 5 is everything they should need.
I still expect under the hood updates to keep coming, but perhaps the naming of future releases is more consumer focused rather than making headlines.
What do you think? Do you care if we just have “5,” or did you prefer the buffet of 4s?
Story 2: Microsoft Says the Keyboard and Mouse is Dead
Links to refer to:
It’s cute when Microsoft makes huge claims.
The company that failed to have their own mobile OS, the company that failed to have their own smartphone lineup, the company that has been trying to make ARM a reality for over a decade now, the company who’s game consoles best selling point is that it let’s you play PC games.
Ok maybe a bit of extreme, but let’s be honest. Microsoft doesn’t have a good record of making long term claims.
A company that still can’t figure out Control Panel vs Settings in their main line OS should not be the one talking about user interaction in my opinion.
But that’s not why I want to highlight this story. We can meme about MS all day for any given number of reason.
The real reason I want to bring it up is that, is there some truth to it? Maybe.
See the thing is, precision and speed matters when it comes to efficiency. And till date, nothing is more precise than having ‘physical’ input (looking at you electric vehicles with touch AC controls).
And there is a reason, humans just connect better when there is physical feedback involved in the process.
Now is that important for everything you do through the day? not really.
I am sure most folks are fine touch screening and eventual voice commanding their way through their casual stuff. But when it comes to getting S done - you need something that has no room for errors.
And besides, 2030 is just 5 years away, and I still can’t get my phone to call the right person in my contacts. And that’s like the most basic task that we were promised over a decade ago with Siri in iPhone 4s.
Even Apple tried their hand on using a different interface for their Apple Vision Pro - guess what was needed when you need to type for work? A Bluetooth keyboard.
I wanted to highlight this story to draw attention to growing push of these large corporations to spam touch screens upon us - especially this is a growing issue in the auto industry right now - you as the consumer, should not fall for it - bring back buttons, and keep them on everything.
Story 3: Please keep an Eye out for this
Links to refer to:
Leaked Meta AI rules show chatbots were allowed to have romantic chats with kids
Meta’s flirty AI chatbot invited a retiree to New York to meet his death
Trust me, I don’t want every item to be about AI and the growing pains related to it. But this one is actually becoming a serious problem, especially in Meta’s case.
From my wife, to friends, to family - I have seen a LOT of people using Meta AI in Insta/WhatsApp without regard for the harms of it.
See the thing is, when you use GPT, or some other ‘dedicated’ chatbot - you know what you are getting into, and you know what you are getting out of it. Call it being better informed.
But, I am seeing a growing trend of people, funnily enough on the either way too young side or way too old side - who are getting mislead a lot by ‘integrated’ chatbots.
Chatbots that are in your apps that you use daily otherwise, chatbots that nudge you to ‘come over here, let’s be friends’.
And these young kids, old dudes and duchesses don’t understand that this ‘AI’ thing can mean way more harm than help. Till date, we have seen more than enough confirmed cases of murders, deaths, and stuff across the board supplemented by these AI chatbots.
We, me and you, as the better informed folks need to keep an eye out and educate the world around us of the real harms it can cause.
My biggest fear with this tech is the fact that the new generation growing up will have hyper-jaded glasses to look through, avoiding any human contact because their AI at home is just ‘nicer’ to talk to.
And then one day, you have companies charging you a subscription to rot your emotional capacity away.
Please use AI responsibly.
Platform Highlights
So we published 2 really important pieces this week.
If you follow the news long enough, you know that things are looking bleak. The new ‘race’ is for control, over your data, your habits, your identity as a whole.
And in this day and age, more than ever, talking about ‘alternatives’ is important.
That’s why we wanted to shed light on
1 - Why you should maybe start thinking of Linux:
2 - You thought only companies are bad? Well think again:
The whole mission behind SK NEXUS is to better inform you about the tech you use daily. And beyond the news, our topical coverage helps you know more about stuff we should you should care for.
But beyond tech, we are also helping nurture a community in Pakistan of the next generation of builders. Just last week - we wrapped up our Dev Dissection series where we taught 11 workshops related to build your own software.
If that stuff interests you - check it out here: https://thewanderingpro.com/devsessions/
If you have feedback for us, as always - feel free to reply to this email or leave a comment below.
#ASKWTT - 💬 Got Questions? Let’s Make It a Thing.
Last week we got -
When we talk about ‘pay off’ we can mean very different things. I don’t think fiscally speaking the amount of money spent on self driving tech will pay off anywhere in the near future.
But if we take money out of the equation, I do think that this research can provide cool tech to surface across different industries - and that could be its own payoff.
To put it shortly – in the short term, no, I don’t think self-driving tech is going to pay off directly. In the long term, however, it has the potential to offset innovation across the board.
If these stories left you curious, confused, or just plain annoyed, send me your questions. Enough of them and we’ll spin up a dedicated #AskWTT section every week. Maybe in video?
Drop a comment or reply to this email.
As always, with or without my help - I wish you the best.