Welcome back to Will's Dumb Brain, your weekly slice of ponderings from the less-explored corners of my cranium! This week, we're wrestling with the big, shiny conundrum that is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Everywhere you look, folks are squabbling over whether AI is going to be humanity’s knight in glowing data armor or the villain in a techno-thriller we didn’t sign up for. But here's a twist: what if AI is just... a tool? Yep, like a toaster, but smarter and doesn't make breakfast.
I loved this column/post/blog/hmmm, what should I call it? Super educational and while I have no experiences with it yet, you’ve encouraged me to take a baby step into the matrix and maybe look for a recipe or gift idea. At the very least, if my very significant other hates the gift I’ve got a non-human to blame!
Nicely done. Generative AI is a game changer. Scary , yes , but with great potential. My concern is job loss that comes with every major tech disruption
Great post, Will. I fall into the category of "I only fear it because I know I will never learn to apply it accurately or properly and then get myself into some deep shit.
As someone who writes mobile notifications for a living, I'm slightly concerned about AI taking my job, especially since our company is already experimenting with it. But on the other hand, what I've seen in those experiments isn't really scaring me. Machines can relay certain information, but often leave out important context that only a real human would know. If anything, the looming thought of AI coming for my job has spurred me to craft copy with more of that personalized context. Always gotta stay one step ahead of those damn robots.
Please keep in mind that each time you use AI your carbon footprint increases. AI data centers require enormous amounts of energy to operate. The more we use AI the more energy is consumed. Addressing the issue of the amount of energy required to operate AI is an issue we must confront.
Will, this week's bon mot was quite inspiring. I shall stow my fears of SINGULARITY for the meantime and journey into the world of AI as you've recommended. I once used AI to write a new resumé, as I'm now a freelance photographer, and the result read that I had "created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th"....not true, I worked ALL 7 days! Therefore, I applaud you for giving me a push into the AI realm and I shall get the chatGPT app. I'm aware that "Ulysses" has been written and I couldn't do any better, even with the app, so I'll go out on a limb and ask to be assisted by AI as I eat a slice of cold pizza! WRITE ON!!!
In some ways, the concept of robots and AI has roots in the 16th century tale of the Golem an artificial man of clay animated by a holy scroll to protect the Jews of Prague from extermination. From there, the idea surfaced in Frankenstein in the early 1800s, then in Fritz Lang's Metropolis in the 1930s, and some contemporary Sci-Fi novels. Robots are a form of AI, in being mobile anthropomorphic machines, sometimes with the ability to think for themselves. And along with that came the fear that our thinking creations may decide they're better off without us (eg: the Terminator series, Blade Runner, I Robot, etc.). Are these just projections of our subconscious fears that we may become our own worst enemies? Maybe these precursors to AI anxiety are just warnings saying: "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it."
I am tackling AI just like every other new and shiny tech: I wait and see if it turns out to be useful by letting others experiment with it. I was never an early adopter of anything, really, and I am ok with that. Up to now, I completely agree with you: it is a tool and why not use it if it helps?
I loved this column/post/blog/hmmm, what should I call it? Super educational and while I have no experiences with it yet, you’ve encouraged me to take a baby step into the matrix and maybe look for a recipe or gift idea. At the very least, if my very significant other hates the gift I’ve got a non-human to blame!
Nicely done. Generative AI is a game changer. Scary , yes , but with great potential. My concern is job loss that comes with every major tech disruption
Great post, Will. I fall into the category of "I only fear it because I know I will never learn to apply it accurately or properly and then get myself into some deep shit.
It took me 70 years to finish writing my first novel. AI can do it in 70 seconds! Apparently I wasted 69.999 years.
I'm left wondering why I wasn't invited to the pizza party! (Did I miss the point?)
As someone who writes mobile notifications for a living, I'm slightly concerned about AI taking my job, especially since our company is already experimenting with it. But on the other hand, what I've seen in those experiments isn't really scaring me. Machines can relay certain information, but often leave out important context that only a real human would know. If anything, the looming thought of AI coming for my job has spurred me to craft copy with more of that personalized context. Always gotta stay one step ahead of those damn robots.
Please keep in mind that each time you use AI your carbon footprint increases. AI data centers require enormous amounts of energy to operate. The more we use AI the more energy is consumed. Addressing the issue of the amount of energy required to operate AI is an issue we must confront.
Will, this week's bon mot was quite inspiring. I shall stow my fears of SINGULARITY for the meantime and journey into the world of AI as you've recommended. I once used AI to write a new resumé, as I'm now a freelance photographer, and the result read that I had "created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th"....not true, I worked ALL 7 days! Therefore, I applaud you for giving me a push into the AI realm and I shall get the chatGPT app. I'm aware that "Ulysses" has been written and I couldn't do any better, even with the app, so I'll go out on a limb and ask to be assisted by AI as I eat a slice of cold pizza! WRITE ON!!!
In some ways, the concept of robots and AI has roots in the 16th century tale of the Golem an artificial man of clay animated by a holy scroll to protect the Jews of Prague from extermination. From there, the idea surfaced in Frankenstein in the early 1800s, then in Fritz Lang's Metropolis in the 1930s, and some contemporary Sci-Fi novels. Robots are a form of AI, in being mobile anthropomorphic machines, sometimes with the ability to think for themselves. And along with that came the fear that our thinking creations may decide they're better off without us (eg: the Terminator series, Blade Runner, I Robot, etc.). Are these just projections of our subconscious fears that we may become our own worst enemies? Maybe these precursors to AI anxiety are just warnings saying: "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it."
I am tackling AI just like every other new and shiny tech: I wait and see if it turns out to be useful by letting others experiment with it. I was never an early adopter of anything, really, and I am ok with that. Up to now, I completely agree with you: it is a tool and why not use it if it helps?