Happy to be the person defending the boring use case. Ninety per cent of what I asked Assistant for was a timer, a light, or how long something takes to drive. None of that wanted a more capable model, it wanted a fast one.
The new thing is better at the things I never asked for and slower at the three I did. That is a fair trade for Google and not for me, and the honest note at the end of the piece is the right one.