William N. Johnson

“Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.”

— Stephen Hawking

When Microsoft announced the end-of-life date for Windows 10, it didn’t seem like an upgrade announcement in the slightest bit. October 2025: move to Windows 11 or receive no more updates or patches.

You upgrade anyway, and it’s instant regret. Your system uses up more RAM, the Explorer menu cannot find the folder or file you’re looking for, and everything seems just out of place. The design feels macOS-like, but the operating system itself feels unpolished.

The bigger problem? Microsoft Copilot pinned on my taskbar. Why would I want an AI tool pre-installed on my operating system? Even worse, applications have Copilot built in. Open Notepad. There’s Copilot. Open Paint. Copilot again.

If I wanted a more capable text editor, I would install Notepad++. If I wanted AI to write me something, I’d probably choose something else. Seriously!? Why does a lightweight text editor need generative AI baked in?

This isn’t a rant about AI outright, since AI has been around for decades from search ranking to spam detection and so on. Even Google’s been building their AI infrastructure long before the AI hype, and Google’s Gemini is just a continuation of that.

The problem is generative AI being used to create text, images, and video. Hop onto social media and your feed is filled with “wholesome” clips, but it turns out to be AI-generated simply for clicks and engagement. That’s psychological warfare right there!

And then there’s agentic AI… systems that take action over you. They can browse the web, manage your emails, execute commands, etc. Seems powerful, but in practice, it’s a security nightmare. A malicious actor could poison your prompts and nudge these agents to perform unintended actions. So, why is agentic AI being pushed down our throat when the guardrails aren’t present enough?

There’s a reason for this AI push, and it’s competition (and revenue). Since OpenAI made its debut in late 2022, companies like Google and Microsoft wanted to take their own piece of the pie. And with competition being a factor, everyone is rushing in to gain the spotlight and not fall behind. Remember Windows phones? They weren’t as successful because they were late in the competition when iOS and Android were already popular.

But even with significant backlash against Microsoft, they unfortunately live in their own tech echo chamber where they care more about investors than end-users. So, the community eventually branded them Microslop.

And now, the biggest concern is an AI bubble. Is it truly there? Maybe. Hype cycles do tend to fluctuate, but bubbles don’t stop technology, just expectations. Even if AI (generative and agentic) isn’t ready now, it’ll continue to thrive and evolve.

But one thing is clear: AI should be optional. Let the users install Copilot (if they want it) instead of forcing them to uninstall it. An operating system should be clear, simple, and stable, not a Pandora’s box of bloated and experimental software. Make it opt-in, not opt-out!

Still, I am interested in seeing how far this technology can go. In fact, I think Google Aluminium (Google’s upcoming agentic operating system) may outperform whatever Microsoft is doing with their operating system. Let’s be real, Google’s been doing AI research for years (with Google DeepMind being their major research). Besides, Google retains much of the world’s digital footprint, so I think they’ll be the ultimate winner in the AI race.