[vertexFarm]

True. And Microsoft and Apple are starting to show worrying signs of going to the other side with their own garbage AI "assistants" among other things. Windows 10 supposedly lets you switch it completely off, but it's a very dark pattern. They make it incredibly esoteric and there's no telling if a future strongarm update might just turn it back on and expand its capabilities dramatically without telling you except for some obscure never-read EULA footnote. Give it even more power to gobble up your data for dubious advantages. There's really no way to use Windows 10 satisfactorily without hacking at the registry with a machete.

I do think that individual developers and designers have good human hearts and altruism, but the corporate structure is devised to keep that under control and serve shareholder value above everything.

There was a talk at the latest CCC which likened corporations to very slow, analog AI which responded to stimuli and attempted to increase share value by any means necessary over years and generations. And that this slow, silicon-free AI has already taken over our governments and captured almost all regulation. It was an interesting idea.