AI productivity tools like Google's Spark reveal tech's empty promise to fix real-world problems
By
TC Sottek
Hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked to perfection. Worth every minute at the bakery.
Summary
The article critiques the tech industry's focus on AI-powered "productivity" tools, using Google's new Gemini AI agent (Spark) as a case study. While Spark demonstrates impressive capabilities like inferring personal details about users, the author argues that this direction misses the point — that society's real problems (broken systems, inequality, etc.) won't be solved by making it easier to schedule meetings or automate tasks. The piece questions the underlying promise that productivity gains from AI will fix what truly needs fixing in the world.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIt's so effective that it's scary.
What's scary to me is how all of this stuff seems geared toward a future of 'productivity' that completely misses what needs to be fixed in our world.
'Productivity' is often pitched as a panacea for what befalls us in our personal lives, even go
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