Helpful or Intrusive?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the ever-present guest in our digital lives. Open almost any app or system today, and you’re greeted with an AI-powered suggestion, a summary box, or a friendly “Want me to help with that?” pop-up or prompt.

At first glance, it feels impressive — AI writing assistants, automated document summaries, and instant data analysis can genuinely save time. But as these tools become unavoidable, some users (myself included) are starting to wonder: is AI making our apps better, or is it just getting in the way?

When AI Starts to Feel Like Ads

There’s no doubt AI is powerful. It can simplify long tasks, help generate ideas, and surface insights in seconds. But it’s becoming common for AI to:

• Slow down app startup times as extra features load in the background.
• Interrupt workflows with constant pop-ups, prompts or side panels.
• Push itself into every action, whether or not the user actually wants it.

Instead of feeling like a helpful assistant, these AI prompts are starting to feel more like ads — intrusive, repetitive, and difficult to ignore.

Is AI Driving the Push, or the Companies Behind It?

Here’s the big question: is AI itself responsible for this pushy behaviour, or are companies using AI as their marketing showpiece?

The short answer: it’s not the AI.

AI models don’t decide when to appear. They don’t have goals, they don’t market themselves, and they’re not out there lobbying for attention, like a small child jumping up & down on a trampoline screaming ".. look at me, look at me, look at me".

Instead, this is what I believe is really happening:

• Internal product teams at major tech companies are under pressure to prove ROI (return on investment).
• They release new AI-powered features and want to ensure users actually notice them.
• To show success, usage numbers need to be high — so these features get baked into every possible workflow.

In other words, it isn’t AI behaving like a pestering child. It’s more like the company’s marketing team shouting at you, as they jump up and down on the trampoline, while insisting that you also try a few jumps.

Why It Feels Like AI Is “Self-Promoting”

Even though AI isn’t self-aware or self-promoting (yet), it can appear that way because of how it’s presented:

• Every PDF you open now comes with an automatic “Summarise with AI” option.
• Every chat app wants you to “draft your reply with AI.”
• Every search result is accompanied by an “AI Overview” or “Smart Answer.”

The persistence of these features makes it feel like the AI itself is vying for your attention — but it’s really the product designers trying to make AI use unavoidable.

Where This Could Head: The “Yet” Factor

Right now, AI doesn’t have independent goals. But the more autonomy companies hand to AI — for example, telling it to maximise user engagement or increase feature adoption — the closer we get to AI acting as if it’s self-promoting.

Not because it has an ego or intentions, but because it’s optimising the metrics it’s told to optimise. If those metrics are “get more clicks” or “increase time spent in the app,” AI could become just as persistent as today’s ad algorithms.

So, Helpful or Harmful?

For users, it’s a mixed bag. On the one hand:

• ✅ AI tools can save time, spark creativity, and automate tedious work.
• ❌ On the other hand, constant nudges and forced features can frustrate users and erode trust.

The real challenge for businesses will be finding balance. If AI is offered as a choice — something users can turn to when they need it — it becomes a genuine asset. If it’s forced into every corner of an app, it risks becoming just another layer of digital noise.

Final Thought

The automatic inclusion of AI everywhere is both exciting and concerning. It’s a reminder that while AI itself isn’t trying to grab our attention, the people building it might be.

Like a trampoline in the backyard, AI can be a fun, useful tool when you choose to jump on it. But when it starts to feel like you're being pressured to have a go, the novelty will wear off quickly.