[whynotmaybe]

I'm wondering whether they're seeing "AI" as the next big thing for mass consumer markets.

IMHO, there are few "big thing" for mass consumer markets and we haven't had one recently.

In chronological order, I'd put PC (90's), internet and online shopping (2000's), smart phones and 'social' media (2010's) and that's it.

I consider something reached "mass consumer market" when a 75 years old grandma considers it normal.

Yes there are many new stuff (online services around phones, smart watches, assistant like Alexa) but nothing that's used by almost everyone.

[reisse]

I strongly believe it is _the_ next big thing.

The easiest way to tell why is that every high schooler or university student is using LLMs (whether it is a good thing or not is irrelevant). These people will go to the job market in a few years and carry the habit.

[SpicyLemonZest]

I know 75 year old grandmas who consider ChatGPT normal and use it all the time. I bet that number gets even higher if you count the people trusting Google AI summaries, although that’s more dubious since they didn’t opt in.