- Fitbit devices feature a new fitness trainer powered by Gemini AI
- But AI appears to be giving people extremely questionable advice.
- Users have expressed their dissatisfaction with this feature
Fitbit recently introduced a new fitness trainer powered by Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence (AI), and it’s safe to say that it received a lot of criticism from Fitbit users. The complaints have poured in, but surely few have been as bizarre as the one recently posted on Reddit that involved some truly “deranged” advice from Gemini.
Posting on Reddit, user bitteroldladybird began by claiming that “the trainer suggested I give up my dog.” If that didn’t raise your eyebrows, the sequel surely will.
They went on to explain, “I’ve walked my dog twice a day my entire life. Including last year and a bit when I got my Fitbit.”
But after that preamble, things start to get weird: “Recently the AI coach gave me feedback on my walks and asked why my pace was so slow. I said I was walking with my dog. It slows me down because she stops and sniffles and pees etc. The coach said he understood. Today he asked me if I could ditch the dog to speed up my walks.” The user then opened up and asked other Redditors, “Did the coach give you any weird or unbalanced advice?” »
Oddly enough, bitteroldladybird was far from the only person to tell a story like this. User KateJ95 shared how “I was told to leave my toddler behind… I turned the trainer off after that.” Individual_Sun2060, on the other hand, said, “My coach keeps telling me to rest and probably suggested I take a day off EVERY DAY. »
User vemailangah, meanwhile, had a helpful suggestion for Fitbit’s next update: “a trainer sends an AI robot to get rid of the dog to help you improve your walks.”
TechRadar’s Matt Evans had a similarly bizarre experience with Fitbit’s AI coach, explaining that he had developed an obsession with a minor cold and wouldn’t let the problem go away. After Evans didn’t wear his Fitbit for a day – and therefore didn’t record any steps or workouts – the AI responded: “yesterday was a full recovery day with minimal movement.” »
As Matt explained, it seemed that Gemini “really thought I was spending 12 hours perfectly still, like a mummy in a sarcophagus.”
Hold on to any context
Judging by people’s comments on Reddit and here at TechRadar, it seems Fitbit’s AI coach is a little too geared toward efficiency and fitness improvement. If he detects some sort of “obstacle” that he thinks is slowing you down, he suggests abandoning it at the first opportunity, even if it means abandoning your beloved puppy.
TechRadar’s Evans points out that this behavior could be because Gemini “kind of clings to whatever context you give it and is designed to improve your health – sometimes to its detriment in terms of subtlety and context.” Because you know much more about yourself than Gemini, the chatbot must take into account every possible clue in order to get an idea of your well-being. And if you mention something relevant in your life, Gemini has a few other resources for context.
Besides creating the kind of bizarre situations we’ve seen here, this problem limits the usefulness of the fitness trainer. Another thread on Reddit asked “Does anyone actually use AI Coach?” ” and was filled with responses from people who have lost patience with this feature. “When the trial ends, I’m out. Coach is trash,” Flanga said, while realManTing shared that “I find myself yelling at him over text and can’t wait for my trial to end.”
As the original poster of this thread says, Coach “constantly gives me long walls of text that are either obvious, outdated, or just plain useless. I don’t want to read an essay every time I open the app – I just want short, actionable information.”
It therefore seems clear that Gemini’s AI coach is not particularly popular with Fitbit users and has a worrying tendency to give questionable advice and irritate them. Hopefully Google can make quick improvements before suggesting anyone drop their dog to record a slightly faster walk.
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