If Bernie thinks the AI industry is going to cede control of their product after all the work put into it,
he's delusional.

I have my doubts these companies will even cede control of the private agent ( the one they keep
in house, vs the one they release to the public or private customers ) to anyone.

Including the Government.

They'll simply keep its existence a secret because they know a full power AGI under their control
can be used against anyone who would stand against them. Governments included.

Heh

New York's governer thought along the same lines as you do until the rich folks took her at her word,
packed up and left. Now she's begging them to come back:

https://moneywise.com/news/top...

Just a thought but, perhaps it would be in the best interests of Social Media to prohibit anyone
under the age of eighteen ( or whatever age your country considers anyone an adult ) from
accessing their platforms.

Would solve the whole problem of lawsuits with " think of the children " running in the background.

Though I suppose they prefer to keep the kiddos on their platform because of the $$$$$ to be made.

They simply want to keep the $$$$ rolling in without the risk of lawsuits eating it all up.

For image generation, you're better off using something like ComfyUI or any other system / model
combination that doesn't try to impose Adobe morals / rules upon your work.

I find it amusing that the industry standard content creation package now comes with its own built
in nanny to make sure you don't try to generate a pair of boobs or something :|

Them: Here's this amazing new image generation technology !
Me: Great
Them: It comes with a long list of restricted imagery types you aren't allow to generate !
Me: What the point of adding it to your software in the first place then if we have to ask permission to generate something ?
Them: But it's AI !
Me: It's also several hundred dollars per year for a bloated, digital content creation package with a nanny :|
Them: But it's AI !

While some may point to $random_crisis_of_the_day as the reason folks aren't replacing their
phones, the reality is probably far easier to explain.

Phones are just stupid expensive all the way around. Especially if you are one of those folks
who have to have the bleeding edge in tech to flash around as nerd cred.

Personally, I don't need eleventy four bazillion giga-pixels across half a dozen camera lenses.
( I have a real camera and enough lenses to outfit a club for that thank you very much )

I neither want nor need AI anything on the phone.
I prefer a smaller footprint phone that easily goes into a pocket.

Basically, there isn't enough ' new tech ' in a new phone ( that I'm interested in anyway ) that
would get me interested in spending $$$$ when my current device works just fine.

Sounds like more than a few other folks are feeling the same way if sales are expected to drop.

I think we've simply reached " peak " smartphone and unless some radical new technology finds
its way into the devices, sales will level off and even continue to decline.

Left-Wing candidates have been in charge off and on about half the time since
I've even been alive and they have yet to do anything other than the typical
politician business-as-usual routine.

They've had ample opportunities to " fix " things and have done exactly squat
with it.

PS - Don't be so quick to throw that " old fart " tag around. Given your Slashdot
ID, you're already sailing on the edges of those waters as it is.

" I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further. "

They should be elated they were given the opportunity to maintain control over it at all.

I am completely shocked the USG hasn't Classified everything under the Sun when it comes to
the race for AGI and taken control of it. Though I suppose they'll wait until after the breakthrough
happens to do so since the Government hasn't been able to even run itself very well for the past
several decades.

( No, I'm not picking on Team D or R. They both suck and are simply two sides of the same coin )

Without the ability to run an adblocker that actually works ( I use uBlock Origin as I'm sure most of you do as well )
I don't think I would even get ON the internet at all these days.

DNS blockers ( like Pi-Hole ) kind of work until your target is feeding ads from the same domain as their content
( looking at you YouTube ) but uBlock Origin is an undisputed heavyweight when it comes to retaining my sanity
on the web.

On occasion I have had to brave the web sans adblocker and it's quite the shitty experience.

is the ability to learn from and not repeat the mistakes of others.

See Apple Vision Pro ( and it's laughable price tag )
https://www.apple.com/apple-vi...

Or the silly wearable AI button thing
https://gizmodo.com/ai-gadgets...

I have a prediction that these glasses will fare little better.

Looking past what it's designed not to do, the fact that it has:

1) A removable / replaceable battery

2) A headphone jack

3) USB-C

are definitely steps in the right direction.
( albeit a pricey one )

Bring back the Micro-SD storage while we're at it instead of charging us extra for the " more storage " model.

It's absolute insanity that folks throw away $1k+ phones because we can't easily swap out a $25 battery.
It's absolute insanity they removed the headphone jack to force us to buy / replace battery powered headphones or an adapter.
It's absolute insanity I have different chargers and cables for at least five generations of this crap laying about. Pick a damn standard already.

If folks are losing their minds over what the public version of the Agent can do,
try to imagine what the non-public ( in house only ) version is capable of.

In a way, the race to AGI is a lot like the race to develop the first working nuclear weapon.

Whomever gets there first will have a significant advantage over those who don't.
Thus, the " damn the torpedoes " attitude most Nations are exhibiting.

I'm curious what unforseen catastrophe this will set into motion :P

The only reason the UK Police are resorting to using AI to fabricate evidence is the fact
that they haven't had time to make everything illegal yet. ( Though they're working on it )

See people getting arrested for merely voicing their opinions online . . . . . :|

https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/s...

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03...

Apple already has this capability built into the phones as of the current IOS.

Settings -> Screen Time -> Communication Safety
Settings -> Screen TIme -> Content and Privacy Restrictions
Settings -> Screen Time -> Lock Screen Time Settings

The problem is parents are either too lazy, too stupid or unwilling to bother setting it up and want someone else to do it for them.

If that's not enough, the extreme version sees Apple adding a software toggle switch that disables all cellular and wi-fi --DATA--
which cannot be re-enabled without a passcode. This effectively turns the smartphone into a phone only so you can stay in
contact with your kiddo. In addition to preventing them from viewing ( gasp ) digital nudity, it keeps em off the evil internet and social
media as well. Hell, they might even go outside and touch some grass or something.

Problem solved.

The only folks who are inconvenienced by this are the kids and their parents leaving the rest of the adult world well enough alone.

You're not going to put this Genie back in the bottle.

AI image / asset generation is going to happen because not only is it faster but it can be done far cheaper than humans can do.
( It's akin to arguing that cars put the horse and buggy industry out of business )

You should get used to it because that is going to be the way forward regardless if you agree with it or not.
There is far too much money involved for it to be ignored.

Social Media / Big Tech are only worried about the profit hits they're going to take if a huge chunk of their userbase
vanishes by banning non-adults from their platforms.

The only way we'll ever get rid of this whole " age-verification " idea ( to protect minors . . . . lol right ) is when
Social Media / Big Tech are potentially looking at crazy levels of profit loss due to the mass exodus of non-adult users.

They're ok with it as long as the age verification thing only impacts the adult content industry.

They will become the most vocal opposition to it, however, if same said rules are applied against their own platforms.