Artificial Intelligence Ethics

Thank God

"They’re not buying based on AI."

Published Jan 7, 2026 2:07 PM EST

Dell

The tech industry’s insistence on cramming AI into virtually every aspect of their consumer-facing offerings, from AI apps you can’t uninstall to hallucinating assistants that nobody asked for, has been nothing short of insufferable.

Tech enthusiasts and average consumers alike have watched helplessly as software and hardware they rely on to research, work, game, and keep in touch have turned into testing grounds for unproven AI tech — often without their consent.

Tech giant Microsoft has been at the epicenter of the resulting blowback, bearing the full brunt of the rage felt by many fed up with having AI shoved down their throat. It’s inundated its Windows 11 operating system with annoying AI features following the company’s doubling down on what it calls the “AI PC” last year, frustrating countless users, and most recently spawning the pejorative of “Microslop.”

Thankfully, vendors are finally starting to pay attention. As PCGamer reports, Windows PC maker Dell admitted at this year’s CES that things have really gotten out of hand.

Their executives are willing to say the quiet part out loud — that nobody is scrambling to buy an “AI PC.”

“One thing you’ll notice is the message we delivered around our products was not AI-first,” Dell’s head of product, Kevin Terwilliger, said during a pre-CES briefing, as quoted by the publication. “So, a bit of a shift from a year ago where we were all about the AI PC.”

“We’re very focused on delivering upon the AI capabilities of a device — in fact everything that we’re announcing has an [neural processing unit] in it — but what we’ve learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is they’re not buying based on AI,” he admitted. “In fact I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome.”

It’s a notable change of tune, suggesting a promising sea change in the perspective of tech manufacturers. It’s a refreshing new perspective after years of companies promising us that all we needed in life was a little bit more AI.

But whether the company developing the operating system of Dell’s PCs will agree with the assessment that consumers ahve had enough remains to be seen.

In a rambling year-end post on LinkedIn, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took umbrage with the term “slop,” arguing that “[w]e need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication.”

Nadella fumed that the company’s tripling down on AI will continue to be a “messy process of discovery, like all technology and product development always is.”

Indeed, tech companies like Microsoft and Dell have a lot still to prove until they can realize on their lofty promises about what AI can do.

For now, many new AI features remain infuriatingly useless, making us wonder if all of the risk and frustration will eventually be worth it in the end.

The fact that Dell is worried its AI-first approach may be hindering it from reaching new customers and making new sales, though, is telling.

Beyond Terwilliger’s eureka moment, Dell also admitted at CES that killing off its much-beloved line of XPS laptops was a mistake, officially reviving it for 2026 — and judging by the elated reactions the move has garnered, it was likely the right move.

Now, if only the hype surrounding AI hadn’t caused an astronomical rise in PC component prices…

More on Microsoft and AI: “Microslop”: Infuriating Video Sums Up How Microsoft Is Ruining Windows With AI