Just after World War II Betty Crocker introduced cake mix that didn’t require anything but milk or water. Just open the box, mix in some milk, and bake it.
The problem was no housewife wanted to buy it. To them, it felt like “cheating.” There was “no work” to it.
Not that the women (and they were all women) didn’t mind a little time saving, but there was evidently a line. For a generation of women who had a very real connection to their mothers and grandmothers who no doubt washed clothes with a wash board, or, heck, even in a creek and baked biscuits by churning their own butter just opening a box and calling it dessert felt wrong.
So the marketing wizards at Betty Crocker updated the instructions for bread and cake mixes to require adding an egg. This extra step was, apparently, “enough” to satisfy housewives that what they were doing was “real cooking.” Something their mothers and grandmothers might even approve of, and, so too their husbands and kids.
The egg wasn’t even all that necessary. It didn’t do much to impact the flavor or texture of the mix. It was just a phantom step cooked up to let people feel a little more connection to their cake.
This same technique is employed by IKEA, perhaps by accident. They started with the idea of easy-to-ship flat-packed furniture, but realized a byproduct of that was people felt a little more investment in the furniture simply because they spent some time twisting in all those little bolts.
I think AI has that same problem, in addition to a bunch of others. I’m still convinced AI is just going to make more work for people if all the claims come true.
I don’t really want to see it happen anymore than I want to eat a crappy boxed cake. But it wouldn’t surprise me if someone at OpenAI realizes they need “the egg” that people add so they feel like they’re doing something. It wouldn’t surprise me if we soon see ChattyG ask more questions either upfront or during the process of “creating” something. It already sorta does this when it prompts you for “Would you like me to…” at the end of a generative prompt. But I can imagine it asking midway through some prompt so it feels “collaborative.”
Still not good for you, though.
