Voice assistants used to be simple, reliable helpers. Well, maybe not truly reliable. They weren’t perfect, but for years, you could count on them to set a reminder, add a calendar event, or play your favourite playlist. They quietly made life easier, even if they never lived up to the sci-fi hype.

When voice assistants just worked

Remember when you could say, “Remind me to empty the washing machine at 5pm,” and it just worked? Or ask your phone to set a timer while your hands were full in the kitchen? These basic, everyday actions were the backbone of voice assistants like Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa. They weren’t flashy, but they were genuinely useful.

The AI revolution: big promises, broken basics

Fast forward to today, and the story has changed. Tech companies are racing to inject the latest AI models into their products, promising a future of natural conversations and limitless knowledge. But in the process, they’ve broken what made voice assistants valuable in the first place.

A glaring example: on Android, Google Assistant has been replaced by Gemini. The promise? Smarter, more capable AI. The reality? Gemini often can’t set a simple reminder, struggles with basic tasks, and tends to just send you to Google with instructions explaining how you can manually set up a reminder. Really? Who thought this was a good upgrade? The core utility is gone, replaced by a chatbot that’s more interested in showing off than getting things done.

Users left behind

For many, this shift feels like a step backward. The new AI-powered assistants are less reliable at the basics. Instead of quietly helping, they now deliver rambling answers or simply fail at tasks that were once effortless.

What’s the point of a voice assistant that can’t assist?

If the new generation can’t handle reminders, timers, or simple commands, what are we really gaining? I was never sold on the idea of having conversations with my phone. To me it feels awkward and slower than just typing. Or for frequent tasks, I would rather set up a quick action or shortcut than chat with my phone. I’m too self-conscious to use an assistant in public places and I’m sure I am not alone, no matter how much they try to add assistants to every watch or headphone.

But at home, especially if you have your hands full, a reliable voice assistant is invaluable.

Bring back the basics

AI has incredible potential, but not at the cost of reliability. Voice assistants should first and foremost be helpful. Until the basics work again, don’t roll out a worse product. I get you want to win at the arms race, but what are you really winning? We are all losing. This is becoming a running joke in the tech community: demoed features that never work in real life, products launched that no users have access to.

Is AI a big excuse to accelerate on enshittification?

Have you noticed your voice assistant getting worse? Share your experience in the comments or reach out to me on any social media!

self.about()

Hello, I'm Alessio Franceschelli, a Principal Software Engineer based in London, UK. With two decades of experience as a software Engineer, I am passionate about building high-quality, maintainable, and high-performance software. I care deeply about good design and helping others build better software.