All I need to do is look at the current state of Google Properties.
YouTube - The Tik Tok’ification is nearly complete. I’d say half of the people that used to provide quality, well produced content have either left the platform or post less than half the amount of content they used to. In replacement I’ve seen AI product review sites and a lot of "talking head’ low production quality videos with people trying to game the algorithm. To Google the only thing that really matters is people trying to keep others engaged enough to sit through an ad. So talking head videos from those gifted with the Cult of Personality carry as much weight as the creator that has really honed their craft. Tells me Google is lowest common denominator.
Gmail - I will not spend any amount of money to improve this turd. My wife cannot get into her gmail account because email accounts have been overrun by vendors using it for cheap market campaigns. Gmail has lost years of archived email for me and others. “Never Delete Your Email” at the launch has proven to be a promise unfulfilled. After 3 years of Fastmail tranquility my days of “free” email services are coming to a end. I’ll transition my account to a Family Account and happily pay annually knowing I don’t need to purchase Mailmate or a SPAM filter app to get the functionality I need.
Google Home - Routinely fails on set timers, they just vanish. For years it couldn’t even create a group where lights had differing lumen levels when Homekit made this trivial. Honestly I stopped trying to build a home automation system around Google a while ago and that was a great decision.
Don’t use Google Meet, I’d use Zoom first and Microsoft Teams before touching GM. Google search to me is more replaceable than ever. I’m annoyed by items in the results that look like links but cannot be clicked until you uncover another section which contains the clickable links.
There’s not really any Google tools I cannot get rid of easily. AI isn’t going to change the observable reality that extant Google properties are subpar.
Speaking of subpar “I write for MacWorld” used to mean something. Now the typical response would be “they’re still in business?”.
I personally got immensely more enjoyment from Siracusa’s Hypercritical Blog post opining about whether Apple had “Lost its North Star” and become more focused on what was economically better for the company at the expense of a premium experience.
