Or a surge of competition from open source operating systems (to which I, for my part, have permanently migrated -- years before this new stride toward dystopia). :D

Does an open source OS have an AI watchman? You can check! If yes, you can fork and remove it.

All that's happening here is the lack of control over your hardware and software is being emphasized a little further. Put another way, you already live in totalitarianism. Microsoft or Apple have de facto totalitarian control over your computer. They always did.