Fuck AI

The short version is, no. The AI stuff relies on Google Gemini, so your custom firmware would have to include Gemini and its dependencies. Any custom firmware based around privacy (e.g. GrapheneOS) won't include the dependencies necessary to run Gemini; therefore, Gemini couldn't run, and therefore, you wouldn't get the AI features advertised in Android 17.

And yet, people are still going to say that a phone made by an advertising company/data broker is better than a phone made by a 50-year-old company that has been making high end computers for decades, because it runs the Linux kernel. Okay, but when Steve Jobs was on the outs with Apple, he based NeXTStep on UNIX, and when Apple acquired NeXT and that put Steve Jobs back in charge, he then based OS X on NeXTStep, which is the basis for iOS (OS X is, I mean). So, iOS "is" UNIX in the same way that Android "is" Linux, which is to say they both really are not those things, but they're somewhat tangentially related... somehow... if you squint.

Here's another thing: Apple was the first company to several of the trillion-dollar valuations. So, why TF do they have the derpiest AI? Siri sucks and always has. Why is that? Could they not make the best AI? Sure. Maybe they don't want to. Maybe they're just trying to skate by with the basics while not giving in to the trend. Sure, they're gonna redo Siri any day now... it's been coming for a few years. And it might very well come in September, but that just means those of us who reject AI will have had a few years to prepare. They're giving us a choice to say "no." With Google/Android, you can use custom firmware, but GrapheneOS is only on Pixels (and coming soon to a future Motorola phone, just like the new Siri is coming soon, and just like the future Star Trek promised us is coming at some point) and a lot of Android phones can't even be unlocked. Even if you do use custom firmware, the developers who port it to your phone are under no obligation to do so.

I'm not saying "just buy an iPhone," but if you don't like AI, that should be a factor. You should also be honest with yourself how much you care about privacy, because Android exists to collect your data and auction it to data brokers. Whereas an iPhone is a Mac that goes in your pocket. It blows my mind that this is even a question. Okay, Macs and iPhones aren't cheap, except the Pixel is the same price as the iPhone and power/performance wise it's like six generations behind AND it sells your data so... it's actually a lot more expensive. Consider that a recent court case forced Google to disclose how much your data is worth to them. On average, something like $1500 a year per person. Some people are worth more to Google. So why isn't the phone free, since it prints them money? Because people will pay them iPhone money for a weaker phone and they don't care about the data collection. So why not double dip?