What are your thoughts on AI?
I quite like it but some of the possibilities scare me. I've used chat gpt recently. Not to write anything for me. Just to clarify some things and I've found it really useful because I can get it to give me more or less detail in a way that a search engine can't. Sometimes I do get it to write me an outline to something but I usually change this to my own words and I'd obviously never try to pass it off as my own work.
My phone is testing a Google AI feature and that is significantly less useful and not always accurate.
In work we also have an ai feature on a database we use and that is quite useful as I can ask it how to do things and I can also ask it to show me specific information I want without having to use a load of filters and run a load of reports.
I obviously am using it for some very basic things. The are far more complex uses for AI. But so far I think used in the right way, it can be a good tool.
In work we also have an ai feature on a database we use and that is quite useful as I can ask it how to do things and I can also ask it to show me specific information I want without having to use a load of filters and run a load of reports.
There are products like Microsoft Business Intelligence that are good at this sort of thing but to get something useful out of it you need to know what to ask it - this is actually the hard part.
Phrasing it in a way that is logical, intuitive and clear is much harder than most people realise.
Maybe AI is actually autistic given some of these traits. Hyperfocus, poor social skills, prone to meltdowns etc...
In work we also have an ai feature on a database we use and that is quite useful as I can ask it how to do things and I can also ask it to show me specific information I want without having to use a load of filters and run a load of reports.
There are products like Microsoft Business Intelligence that are good at this sort of thing but to get something useful out of it you need to know what to ask it - this is actually the hard part.
Phrasing it in a way that is logical, intuitive and clear is much harder than most people realise.
Maybe AI is actually autistic given some of these traits. Hyperfocus, poor social skills, prone to meltdowns etc...
Will research become a lost skill? Will critical thinking become even more rare than it seems to be now?
Outside of a smallish group of people - yes to both. We are already well down this path.
Will "real" information be kept in a circle of the select few?
This has always been the case for some information, but now it is easier when more can be controlled by fewer people.
These are rather general responses of course, but when you see the evolution of generation after generation and their lack of willingness to do the leg work for research when it can be serverd to them on a plate - it seems the masses will have lost their abilities to be adequately informed.
Thats part of what I mean Iain, if people are spoon fed information so easily, will they know how to do research? Will research become a lost skill? Will critical thinking become even more rare than it seems to be now? You and I are old enough to remember when if you wanted to know something more than what could be found in a normal household encyclopedia, then you had to go to a library and search for it, maybe a friendly librarian would point us towards the books we wanted, but we still had to sit there and concentrate, scribble notes and remember it. I just worry that people will forget how to do this and won't be encouraged to do it, whole bits of essays could be gleened from a couple of different AI programs, it's bad enough now, but will AI make it easier to fool and examiner? Will "real" information be kept in a circle of the select few?
Will the information we get be less factual and more biased as data sets for more specialist subjects are smaller and more open to bias?
This will all come down to who is in control of what is fed to the AI models.
It is easy to see how the Chinese models eclude details on "sensitive" issues like Tianamen Square or the enslavement of the Uyghurs. I can imagine Donnie Shitler being quite happy to make his tech bros scrub uncomfortable info from their systems.
I don't doubt any government here would do the same if they thought they could get away with it too.
Lets see how soon it takes before the US starts down the data scrubbing path - I give it 1 year and there will probably be a war started at the same time to divert any media attention.
I prefer to go to the source and do my own research if practical.
Do you wonder if AI will make knowlege harder to gain? If we ask a question and get a bite sized gobbet of information will we be less able to challenge it, to question it? We've already seen how some AI has mangled news stories, how will it mangle things that are less easily checkable and what effect will that have? Will the information we get be less factual and more biased as data sets for more specialist subjects are smaller and more open to bias? Will our ability to research things for ourselves become less, the internet has already made some impact on this, yes we can access more and more information, but is it good quality information? For exmaple, if I asked what evolution is? How would I know if what I'm told is true if the data the Ai's been trained on is fundamentalist CHritian for example? Will I be told that it's false and given the biblical book of genesis instead, will Darwin be mentioned?
Sorry these are som late night ramblings, but I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't write them down.
I haven't used it a lot yet but so far it's been pretty easy. I guess because in a database I'm asking for very specific information, there aren't many ways of wording it. I am very logical by default though so it'll be interesting to see if other people have problems.
This made me laugh a lot 
What you mean it will start swearing and crying when we ask it to do things it dosen't understand or ask it to many questions?