How Google’s Automated Writing Assistance Contradicts Orwell’s Advice

I was composing a Gmail message when I typed “it work...” and Gmail’s new Smart Compose algorithm suddenly kicked in for the first time, adding some ghostly gray characters: “...s like a charm.” Exactly the phrase I was reaching for! Simply hitting Tab (experience with Unix filename completion led me to guess that) accepted the addition, and the 14 characters were added for me. A tiny part of my day’s communication chores delegated to a machine. But then a thought struck me, related to Orwell.

I...