While generative AI has shown promising results in advancing software engineering, its inclusion within end-user applications is a different story. Features labeled as AI continue to pop up across every UI, but they’re not always helpful or useful. Often driven by hype, they can become a distraction, or worse, a productivity killer.
“Many fall into the trap of tacking on AI capabilities to cash in on the hype rather than because they solve a real, tangible user problem,” says Jody Bailey, chief product and technology officer at Stack Overflow. “The results are brittle features that introduce bugs, create security gaps, or disrupt workflows.”
As a result, end users are souring on “AI everywhere, all the time.” Only 8% of Americans would pay extra for AI, according to ZDNET-Aberdeen research. Amid rising AI slop concerns and growing consumer pushback, The Wall Street Journal reports that companies are becoming more cautious about how they promote AI in products.
“The biggest anti-pattern is AI everywhere without context,” says Neeraj Abhyankar, VP of data and AI at R Systems, a digital product engineering company. “Teams bolt chatbots or auto-generated content onto established products and workflows in ways that disrupt the user’s flow rather than enhance it.”
