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!
exactly! At this point there's basically no downside to checking it out because if it helps great, and if it's just too complicated or useless, screw it!
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
I fear the same thing, Eric. Especially because I am starting to see how we have been preparing for it ourselves in the last 15 years: reimagining white collar jobs like they are assembly line tasks, creating standard processes and bringing in systems wherever possible. It still used to be a joke at the office that we will be replaced by AI some 5 years ago, but this year it is no joke any longer.
It is most definitely going to disrupt a lot of industries and a lot of jobs, but so has every technological leap that came before it...and we didn't handle all of those too well either.
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.
hahah I get that feeling too some time when looking at new tech, and I understand it from an older generation's perspective too. My parents always talk about the days where if you used a computer wrong, you could brick it. Nowadays though, just mess around with it, what's the worst that could happen?
Yeah but your novel is probably fresh, and interesting, and well, novel! An AI novel would just be a smattering of things that you've already seen and read and listened to. On first glance, all those AI scripts and passages are amazing, but the more you look at them, the more formulaic and repetitive they are.
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."
Well said and very interesting. Humans will always fear something out of our control, it makes sense that in today's world it would take the form of robots and AI as opposed to ghosts and ghouls and goblins.
With all the real threats our species faced, why the heck did we keep inventing new ones to worry about? Up until recently, most of us didn't live long enough to reach old age, and I doubt our hominid precursors spent much time inventing spooks and demons with lions and leopards pacing around the trees where they were hiding. Once we developed technology we appear to have projected our fears onto it. As long as AI is being used as a tool, it can be benign, but bad people can use any kind of tool to do bad things. It's good that we're thinking in advance about what can go wrong, because it may allow us to avoid the worst case scenario.
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?
This is a great approach. Early adopters are basically free guinea pigs who beta test things because we're bored. I love consumer tech because I find it fascinating, but couldn't agree more when it comes to expensive stuff like a new car brand or Apple Vision Pro or whatever else is just released.
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!
exactly! At this point there's basically no downside to checking it out because if it helps great, and if it's just too complicated or useless, screw it!
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
Couldn't agree more, and the scary parts are precisely what I'll be talking about in next week's post!
I fear the same thing, Eric. Especially because I am starting to see how we have been preparing for it ourselves in the last 15 years: reimagining white collar jobs like they are assembly line tasks, creating standard processes and bringing in systems wherever possible. It still used to be a joke at the office that we will be replaced by AI some 5 years ago, but this year it is no joke any longer.
It is most definitely going to disrupt a lot of industries and a lot of jobs, but so has every technological leap that came before it...and we didn't handle all of those too well either.
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.
hahah I get that feeling too some time when looking at new tech, and I understand it from an older generation's perspective too. My parents always talk about the days where if you used a computer wrong, you could brick it. Nowadays though, just mess around with it, what's the worst that could happen?
It took me 70 years to finish writing my first novel. AI can do it in 70 seconds! Apparently I wasted 69.999 years.
Yeah but your novel is probably fresh, and interesting, and well, novel! An AI novel would just be a smattering of things that you've already seen and read and listened to. On first glance, all those AI scripts and passages are amazing, but the more you look at them, the more formulaic and repetitive they are.
I'm left wondering why I wasn't invited to the pizza party! (Did I miss the point?)
Blame the AI who created our guest list!
Ha ha, love it!
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."
Well said and very interesting. Humans will always fear something out of our control, it makes sense that in today's world it would take the form of robots and AI as opposed to ghosts and ghouls and goblins.
With all the real threats our species faced, why the heck did we keep inventing new ones to worry about? Up until recently, most of us didn't live long enough to reach old age, and I doubt our hominid precursors spent much time inventing spooks and demons with lions and leopards pacing around the trees where they were hiding. Once we developed technology we appear to have projected our fears onto it. As long as AI is being used as a tool, it can be benign, but bad people can use any kind of tool to do bad things. It's good that we're thinking in advance about what can go wrong, because it may allow us to avoid the worst case scenario.
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?
This is a great approach. Early adopters are basically free guinea pigs who beta test things because we're bored. I love consumer tech because I find it fascinating, but couldn't agree more when it comes to expensive stuff like a new car brand or Apple Vision Pro or whatever else is just released.