It was a nuisance, with a high failure rate. Recording to tape was kind of fun. Optical not as much.
"Put them in camps before they put us in camps" is probably the tactically smart if ethically questionable answer.
I would ignore Christmas entirely if I could.
I have family members who are really into it.
And the news always acts like the entire stupid consumer driven economy is riding on it. I actually don't care about that. But I bet if we did all choose to ignore it, they'd complain that we're tanking the economy on purpose. You can't win with trolls.
This is dark and funny at the same time. Bots, shouting into the void, in order to separate suckers from their advertising dollars.
I think you're getting downvoted because in this thread you're coming off as an angry gatekeeper type, and internet forums tend to hate that. I'm not saying you're an actual angry gatekeeper; however, that's the vibe.
There's a lot of things in language use that annoys the crap out of me, too. I could write a long boring list of egg-corns, and words that people commonly misspell or mispronounce that really trigger me. But if I did, some dude with a PhD in linguistics would tut-tut me and tell me not to be so prescriptivist (or whatever).
Anyway, my point is, I think you're right about the "old people" misuse of AI as an umbrella term. But, also be open to the common opinion that people who police language are often seen as cranky old cranks, too.