Gmail is Finishing My Sentences For Me (We`re All One Step Closer to Robot Armageddon)

Source: Vsoftsystems, 05/10/2018

Smart Compose in Gmail is downright creepy. I`ll finish my own
sentences, thank you very much.
I clicked an option in Gmail called Enable Experimental Access. It`s
innocuous enough--why not try something new? Anyone can try it. It`s
listed right under settings.
I wish I never had.
Announced way back in May of this year, the new Smart Compose function
sneaks up on you in a way that seems strangely foreboding. You`re
typing along writing an email to your boss, and suddenly words pop up
on the screen. You type: `I`m running late to our...` and Gmail
automatically inserts the word meeting. `Do you have dinner plans
for...` and Gmail adds tomorrow to your sentence. At first glance, it
seems helpful.
Then, it hits you.
There`s a silent partner thinking, analyzing, and scheming behind the
scenes. A shadow robot, an agent of English composition, is watching
what you say. Google engineers claim they are not reading your emails,
not storing any messages you`re sending to that colleague in the
branch office, not cataloging every gripe session. They`re blissfully
unaware.
And yet--there`s a creeper in my email. At times, Smart Compose
chooses not to play along, somehow not finishing my sentences for me.
Typing `When do you get off of...` must be obvious, even to a fifth
grader. The next word should be work. `Do you like your...` should be
a no-brainer. I`m going to type boss next. If the word agenda doesn`t
belong at the end of `What is on the...` I don`t know what would be.
And neither does the bot.
The AI works, then the AI doesn`t work. It`s robot roulette.
Then Smart Compose suddenly pops up again. In the course of using the
feature over the past few days, strange words like `agenda` did pop
into place. The word `meeting` would sometimes appear out of nowhere,
and sometimes it wouldn`t. According to what I`ve read, this is a work
in progress, but it`s disconcerting to have a bot write your sentences.
It will become much more disconcerting. One final word at the end of a
question is one thing. In the near future, bots will be able to finish
a paragraph as well, once we give them permission to analyze our
entire Gmail archive. I`m guessing a smart bot today could look at all
of my messages and write a reply to public relations reps in a snap.
And, they could easily compose a message to a source--maybe even
suggesting questions I`d send by email.
This might all seem helpful, but please make sure you try the feature
before you willingly oblige these bots. Today they will add a word at
the end of `Let`s meet for lunch next...` but tomorrow they will start
writing entire emails. Bots can already write articles (although they
are crude and impersonal). My issue with Smart Compose is not that
there`s some value in offering suggestions. It`s simply what comes
after this in a few years or a few decades that could lead to a robot
apocalypse because we don`t really know why it`s happening.
I`ve written about the dangers of AI many times before, and it`s
always a far-off scenario. Bots that can walk and talk, who understand
inaudible commands, who drive cars. Smart Compose feels wrong because
it is happening now; it feels like a strange entity invaded my email
as words pop into place. I don`t really want to know how it works. I
don`t want a bot writing my email, even if there was a time I thought
that was maybe a good idea. It`s way too creepy. It feels like, as a
writer, I`m being toyed with. Reduced. Marginalized.
I`m fine with my wife finishing my sentences--she knows me better than
anyone.
Google? Gmail? It feels too much like the AI has taken a step too far.
It`s magical and surreal.
And, I turned it off.
I`ve been finishing my sentences in unusual ways ever since.