So here we have a bunch of people complaining about a useful feature that has been written and included for them to use free of charge in an open source project that they themselves likely use to help them earn money at their workplaces...
Wonder if these people ever gave the author any credit for the countless other features he wrote for them that they've enjoyed for years, or if they only come here to complain. I suspect most of them haven't.
Really an amazing amount of entitlement on display.
There's a reason many of us use iTerm2.app over Terminal.app...
But Terminal.app is always right there if you prefer your terminal without any features. This really isn't something to be so upset about.
I too would be immensely frustrated if this was released in my terminal emulator, and would jump ship immediately. My current job would (and probably will) ban this and similar integrations unless compliance gives the thumbs up... and they do not care about how optional it is. GitHub Copilot is still not allowed unless you are in a small pilot project with their own agreement and contract for sharing and storage with Microsoft with tons of red tape. ChatGPT is still banned. Please keep AI out of the core features of applications that absolutely don't need it.
From the release notes[0]:
AI
==
- Add AI-powered natural language command generation. Enter a prompt in the composer and select Edit > Engage Artificial Intelligence. You will need to provide an OpenAI API key since GPT costs money to use.
- A new AI feature in the Toolbelt, "Codecierge", lets you set a goal and then walks you step-by-step to completing it by watching the terminal contents. It requires you to supply an OpenAI API key.
[0] https://iterm2.com/downloads/stable/iTerm2-3_5_0.changelog
This is an opt-in feature, so by defaut all AI-related features are disabled. You have to go out of your way to generate an API key and add it, it's not even a thing you could accidentally turn on. And if you'd like to use the features without sending your prompts to OpenAI, under the advanced settings you can supply any OpenAI compatible API URL (if you're running an LLM locally for privacy reasons for example).
There is other terminal software out there for the Mac. I haven’t really tested any of it; I’m fine with iterm2. I can avoid the whole AI issue by just not supplying a key for openAI.
Amen!
This comment will be about the reasons people don't like this feature, but without restating the obvious.
> having AI in my terminal is a deal-breaker.
Okay.
> I’ll be liable for breaching my NDA if that gets sent to some network service.
Right...
> government regulatory requirements prohibit the use of software with so-called "AI" features for certain tasks
Sure...
> Hate to be that guy, but it is not configured by default, not disabled. It should be disableable feature even if OpenAI key is entered, for example.
Uh huh...
> Similar working position to Tom N & Matt B above, I'm working in an organisation where any knowledge of our products must not be allowed to leak within or outside the company.
Right Stephen, sure, how did we not think of that...
> I rolled back the update on my end, but my pihole shows some openai queries from my Mac. It's hard to say whether it was iTerm o not as I use chat gpt on the browser.
Hmmm...
I don't really know the specifics of the feature, I don't use iTerm2. It sounds like you can opt-in (I'm going to avoid using the word enable or configure) to a feature that uses OpenAI's API to auto-complete terminal commands.
It's a macOS application, these users visit the wider Internet, they are already receiving personalized Apple and Google networked experiences, they are already sending a lot of telemetry. Let's suppose OpenAI, like Apple and Google, makes a good-faith effort to protect your data and keeps its promises about not using API driven calls for training in a way that could leak private information to other OpenAI users. Don't litigate this, there's nothing to serve in the interest of curiosity here.
Is there an objective, secular, non-vibes basis for being this pissed off about a new feature?
Why do people draw the line at some kinds of telemetry, but not others?
I'm really confused what is going on here with people being so upset. It doesn't do anything unless you provide an OpenAI key. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you actually run the "Engage Artificial Intelligence" command. It's roughly the same thing as asking ChatGPT, but its right in your terminal app.
It isn't always on or anything. It's actually kind of hard to find and use.
Is there maybe something I'm missing? Or is this a general backlash against AI?