👨💻️ When it comes to AI, trust but verify
Ep. 23: Blooming flowers, mountain meadows, and the problems inherent in artificial intelligence.
Another week has flown by, or has it? Seemed to go slowly for me, but that’s probably because it wasn’t punctuated by a ton of travel. Happy to stay home! One of my leisure activities has been sorting through an old shoebox of photos, including this one. Read on for its relevance…
A Tip for the Modern Worker
Be punctual. It's a virtual world. You're either present or absent in a meeting. There's no such thing as 'they're almost here, they're in the hallway.' So, be on time for meetings that you're participating in. Moderating a meeting? Be a few minutes early. Doing a demo or a presentation to a large group? Be ready five to ten minutes early. Going to be late? Let someone know.
This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. Punctuality can be very much a part of a team’s culture. It can be particularly challenging if your team has not adopted 25- or 50-minute meetings to allow a buffer (there’s another tip about that), but if you’re running late, it just takes a second to let someone know. It can be particularly effective to start meetings on time, too, so participants learn that they simply can’t be two minutes late and not miss a thing.
#365DayDraw
I drew this and wrote the accompanying annotation as part of my #365DayDraw project 7 years ago today.
Blooming
Blooming flowers in the middle of February? Well, sure, because Valentine’s Day is tomorrow! If this mild weather keeps up, though, we might see some bursting buds months before they usually appear.
Commentary
Artificial intelligence had quite a week. First, Microsoft announced plans to embed ChatGPT into Bing. Then, Google had a massive failure while marketing their integration of Bard which netted them a loss of $100 billion. You see, the AI in Google’s marketing materials spouted incorrect information. You have to think that Apple is at least mulling AI over, but they haven’t made a move yet (probably smart). This field is moving so fast, and Apple is nothing but intentional in my opinion.
ChatGPT isn’t without its faults, either. We submitted a trial set of questions about music theory, and while the initial results were promising, it flat-out got some of the more complex concepts wrong. And so confidently! AI has a place in our future (heck, it’s already here), but we must tread lightly. These programs are not synthesizing information. They’re just regurgitating assemblages of information that are likely to match up with what you’re looking for. And that likelihood isn’t necessarily 100% for every query.
So, be like a good journalist and do your research, at least to verify what you’re being told. I prefer my intelligence without any prefixes, just good old human intelligence, where we search for information, gauge its authenticity, synthesize the data through the context of our prior experience, and draw conclusions. That’s difficult for a computer to do.
Now, the Google event, as controversial as it was for what it got wrong, reminded me that they have some really cool AI things that I don’t use. I’ve been going through old printed pictures in my house and found one I couldn’t place. It’s a mountain scene, taken from a high vantage point, with a river in the valley. Could be anywhere, right? So, I checked out Google Lens. If you haven’t done this before, it’s easy. First, go to images.google.com and click the camera icon.
I dragged my picture into the resulting page and within seconds, Lens told me the picture was the Jenner in Germany. Yes, of course! Amy and I had hiked the Jenner, a mountain in Bavaria, in 1997. My uploaded picture is on the left, and the references that drew Lens to its conclusion are on the right. Now that’s pretty cool technology. If you ever have the chance to travel to Germany, Berchtesgaden is a fabulous place.
Miscellanea
💥 I finished watching Echo 3 on Apple TV (thanks for the recommendation, Stan!). Too much ‘shoot ‘em up’ action to make it a family-viewing affair, but I really enjoyed it on my own.
📖 I’ve been branching out beyond my Lee Child streak to read some other things in my Goodreads list and just finished up Later by Stephen King. You know, it was his On Writing title that got me interested in writing my own books, anyway!
🇨🇦 Really looking forward to next week, when we’ll take a few days to enjoy some skiing. Of course, given the spring-like conditions on the ground where I live, we’re traveling due north to Mont-Tremblant. I look forward to sharing stories from that trip!