Logitech has launched a free software tool to help existing users of its kit with ChatGPT prompts, but those that splash out on the upcoming Signature AI Edition Mouse, get a... dedicated AI prompt button.

It's a bizarre bit of bandwagon-jumping from a company generally associated with peripherals. Applying algorithms that some - these days - might call AI to improve noise cancellation or image processing is a good thing. Yet a button on a mouse that fires up a dialog to create ChatGPT prompts seem like overkill. Like the Copilot key.

We tried out the Logi AI Prompt Builder, so readers don't have to. The prompt builder is fired up using the Logi + Option app, after which the user can create a shortcut key on the Logitech mouse or keyboard. Alternatively, there's the dedicated AI prompt button if you buy the new Signature AI mouse.

Any text the user selects will automatically be captured, and the user can then use a recipe to turn that text into a prompt that is acceptable to ChatGPT, after which it can do the work a user wants it to do.

Defaults include the option to create an email, summarize text, and so on. Depending on the recipe, there are also options including length, style, and tone. Click submit, and the prompt is passed to ChatGPT, which will obediently generate a response.

And that really is it. It's a tool to convert text into something that ChatGPT can grok, thus allowing it to give a desired response. This defeats the object of a chatbot while also handily highlighting one of the major flaws of the current crop of generative AI services: users need to be able to write an effective prompt that will make the service produce the desired outcome.

Some might say it is almost like knowing how to write a database query or getting a search engine to find what is needed.

A Logitech spokesperson told The Register that its "main goal is around enhancing productivity.

"As GenAI becomes a firmer fixture of day to day workflows, the idea of this tool is that it's a quick shortcut that helps you get to ChatGPT quicker and build more effective prompts. Even if it's two minutes saved each time, if that's five times in a day, in Logitech's eyes that's 10 minutes saved to do something more creative/rewarding, which is a win!"

Logitech builds some great hardware. What it has created here serves only to highlight one of the major limitations of AI services in 2024: a user has to know how to create prompts to get the most out of generative AI. The fact that the company has identified this need indicates that AI companies have more work to do before their bots are truly chatty. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/04/17/logitech_introduces_ai_prompt_tool/