This video is the best part of two hours but the speaker really knows what he’s talking about and has the historical perspective not to fall into the trap of misleading us and certainly is not speaking for reasons of pecuniary gain

early morning sunshine seen from our bungalow living room

I could not sleep much so decided to get up early. We have a blue sky as I write, 6. 24 a.m, and for some reason I find myself watching a video by the so-called Godfather of artificial intelligence. Try a little bit of the video above to get the flavour.

I thought I would review how I see the rapidly developing AI situation where it is claimed many of the jobs even including my doctor may become redundant. This is part of the shift towards transhumanism – part man part machine – where people are no longer expected to use our native intelligence, in other words the skills we were born with, and rely on an external source of information.

How I use AI

I admit I have used AI many times. I started using it about four months ago and am quite consistent in my use. I write quite a lot of advertisements and sometimes it doesn’t look quite right so I run it through AI and it will come up with several suggestions.

Basically the ‘garbage in garbage out’ rule applies so you have to ask AI the right questions but if you do write carefully you’ll get a very useful answer or at least one that can be tweaked to get a good final result.

I use AI in a situation where I realise I could spend some time mulling over the situation and getting better results, or even asking friends’ opinion, but if I have only limited time and my contacts are not around I would rather see what AI has to say.

What it is particularly good at is shortening articles so I write a 600-word article and I need it shortened to 300 words and blow me down it does a very good job, it keeps the original sense  of the article while taking away some of the unnecessary items.

I also use it to sort out problems with my computer or my software. If I have a problem with word press it will give me a step by step set of instructions as to what to do. Sometimes these are not helpful because they say there is a particular link that I should click and the link is not there. If I write back saying the link is not there they will give me an alternative.

I can say that AI although not perfect gives an idea of a realistic route to try to solve  problems.

Overall I feel that so far my experience with AI has been positive and I’m aware that I’m becoming far more productive; I’m not aware that I’m using my brain any less but getting assistance with some of the more routine elements.I know I can use it to write software, to create images, to predict behaviour but I am not there yet. I did however try this:

Me – draw someone trying to ride a bike for the first time

AI – after a 2 minute pause – Here comes your illustration—wobbly wheels, nerves, and a dash of determination.

Let’s see how that first ride looks!

I also understand that you can get AI to write a book for you based on a few words.

I think this is an entirely different category which includes intellectual laziness where you do not use your own capacity for imagination and story development but let another entity do the work.

And finally, ladies – and gentlemen – try this if you have been stuck in a relationship.