This hints at another problem with general AI I don't really see being discussed a lot; voice assistants with low-key personality and names (Alexa, Cortana, etc.) already filled that niche, at least in perception.

Most people don't live the exciting lives AI execs keep pitching. We're not planning our kid's birthday party while ordering a dozen expensive cupcakes and scheduling a trip to Italy. We need an egg timer. And like, somebody to Google that Tim Burton film whith the guy with scissor hands, you know, what's it called. Or if you're really spicy, maybe invoke Wolfram Alpha for something.

A tiny bit of natural language parsing (still impressive in some respects) and some clever voice tech was sufficient. We didn't need a lying machine that hallucinates and boils lakes.

Which is to say, it's about devaluing human art and labor. Always has been. They keep forcing it down our throats. Our buy in isn't necessary, it just makes the conquest cheaper if we submit.

Cortana was meant to compete with Siri and Google Assistant (and Alexa to a lesser extent), when Windows Phone died they put her on life support and then pulled the plug when ChatGPT became a thing.