First, they came for your devices, then they came for your jobs, and now they’re coming for your screens. By “they,” I’m referring to artificial intelligence (AI) – a term you hear almost daily across all spheres of life. Want a quick text summary of a canonical event? Simply ChatGPT it or ask Gemini to create an image that depicts the headline appropriately. Yep, it’s that easy.
But now, AI is being misused to represent technologies that are farcical or simply don’t exist yet. One such tech that has climbed viral trends lately is screen protectors, or screen guards, as they’re commonly known in India. Why would your screen protector need AI, you wonder? Well, we’re wondering too. It’s not uncommon for companies to now use “AI” as a way to grab people’s attention, even if those features were available to use prior to the AI-isation of our world.
Can screen protectors be optimised for AI?
A Reddit post recently showed a screen protector with the “optimised for AI” badge. Since then, the post has hit some nerves. Puritans think of AI as a marketing gimmick, while the new age adopters think AI has uses everywhere. So, do AI screen protectors work? According to Android Authority’s investigation, the screen guard in question was, well, a regular screen protecting film that was marketed as AI optimised to garner attention. And it clearly worked.
Was AI used to design the screen guard for better accuracy or for bubble elimination? Perhaps, yes. But we’ll never know, because companies now slap the AI tag onto every product without headlining where AI was used and whether AI is part of the final product. In this case, it’s possible that AI was used to create the screen guard, but there is no suggestion of the same, at least based on the Reddit post.
If nothing else, the AI screen protector smoke show is driving attention to the lack of transparency prevailing in the tech world when it comes to AI functionality and products – especially in the face of evolving regulations. Slapping an AI logo should not be enough to sway potential customers, but it is the case right now. But when AI technologies mature enough to create more tangible impact, people will naturally know how to differentiate a gimmick from a revolution. Till then, remember – not everything needs AI optimisation, especially not your next screen guard – at least for now!
