Aye aye, AI, beware!
More than fifty years ago, Barry did a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He was involved thereafter in the development of various national and international IT systems.
The quality of software has always been an issue where the outcomes are of critical importance. Sadly, over many years, there have been multiple examples of poor implementations, probably because they are cheap or free, and best avoided.
Recently, he is concerned at the quality of AI. (Much muttering!)
For example, in a recent question to AI, two camera lenses were being compared. AI stated that lens A weighed 1.6 kg, and lens B weighed 2 kg. It then concluded that lens B was much heavier than lens A because it weighed 1 kg more. Perhaps this is a rather unusual error. However, he found that answers to questions on subjects of which he had detailed knowledge were way off the mark and appeared to be lacking fundamental facts.
It’s fairly easy to assess the quality of AI implementation for yourself by presenting a question about something of which you have a detailed knowledge. You may discover that the information given is wildly inaccurate.
To be fair, AI has proved helpful when it comes to unravelling the intricacies of some product, like a new camera or MacBook updates, that might be found in a manual, but are time-consuming to find. AI, like a calculator, can make life quick and easy for some things, but user beware. AI will be successful if it makes your task easier and quicker.
The world we live in now. Common sense need to play a part of our life.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense went out with the ark!
DeleteI am avoiding AI as much as I possibly can. Hopefully I am not using it without knowing.
ReplyDeleteIt's exhausting constantly being on alert, though.
DeleteAI has its uses of course, but I think most of those are of little benefit to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's insidious.
DeleteI started using Grok, a free phone app or you can use it free online at x.com and I am very impressed. It is quick with facts. But beware anything with opinions especially about controversial issues. I described my hair and it suggested an excellent shampoo and gave great info on which washing machine to buy.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you had a happy experience. 😊
DeleteI'm deeply suspicious!
ReplyDeleteProbably the wisest way to be.
DeleteI don't use AI, regarding it with deep suspicion, but my husband sometimes uploads photos of vintage items he buys and sells to an AI programme in order to get more information about them. Put the same photo in 3 times and get 3 different answers - some of them hilariously incorrect. It wouldn't be funny if it was pictures of, for example, something medical.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest daughter had a similar experience and discovered that the bot was actually lying!
DeleteI don't trust AI already you see fake photo's, so nothing online can be taken at face value, sadly this won't stop the masses and the radical from taking everything they read as fact, especially if it agrees with their own opinions.
ReplyDeleteIt is gullible people who are most at risk.
DeleteA form of AI is being used for blog comments, sometimes because of poor English writing skills by genuine commenters and at times for commercial reasons.
ReplyDeleteAI is useful for finding about how something operates, and operational details? Doesn't your basic Google do that already?
The AI comments are obvious and inoffensive. No problem there.
DeleteI am ignorant of this and probably will remain so. It takes Geniuses like your husband to figure these things out and that I am not.
ReplyDeleteNo genius, just made aware.
DeleteAI has it's advantages but it's not always perfect. I heard on the radio the other morning about a young boy who committed suicide and the family is sewing because they say that viewing his conversations AI basically encouraged him to do so.
ReplyDeleteThat was tragic.
DeleteAI scares me a little, but perhaps it the end, it will be more truthful than some people in social media.
ReplyDeleteIn another fifty years we shall maybe be able to deal sensibly with it.
DeleteI think a large part of the problem is the naming it Artificial Intelligence. Before calligraphy consumed me, I was a computer programmer. So "intelligence" is a misnomer. It's a program, probably sophisticated, but still can't do anything on it's own. It needs instructions, parameters, The first rule of programming I was taught was GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out.
ReplyDeleteThat is what people need to remember.
DeleteWhat is worrying is that so many people will believe anything that the AI robot tells them. No questioning or proper research involved.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteI agree with this ^^^ the "I saw it online" crowd will believe anything.
ReplyDeleteTrue!
DeleteI have to admit that I don't really know what the AI means, there are so many explanations, examples etc, that my had is stuffed like a turkey at Christmas !
ReplyDeleteToo many opinions, too little commonsense,
DeleteI'm always a little wary of AI ... but the genie is out of the bottle!
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
It is.
DeleteI hate the computerised answer phone and you go round and round in a loop, I keep saying I want to speak to a REAL person!!
ReplyDeleteAI is everywhere now.
ReplyDeleteIt is - use with care.
DeleteI find it useful sometimes for a summary or "first answer", but don't trust it to always be correct. So if important, I try to double check. (And if I quote AI on my blog, I add that that's where the info came from.)
ReplyDeleteIt worries me that students will not have sufficient background knowledge or history to sift fact from misinformation.
DeleteI had no idea that artificial intelligence went back that far.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteI like some of the AI summaries when you do a search but you are right, the old expression "garbage in/garbage out" applies. People in this country are rushing so quickly to implement AI that there is little thought given to the quality or even the biases AI picks up from material it is trained on.
ReplyDeleteSome 'information' is simply wrong.
DeleteAI is everywhere these days -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is.
DeleteEi ole mikään salaisuus, että minulla on hyvin syvä ja henkilökohtainen suhde Jumalaan. Olen puskenut ja vastustanut tätä suhdetta kuluneen vuoden ajan kaikkien niiden hölynpölyjen läpi, joita olen joutunut kokemaan herpesin kanssa eläessäni, mutta jälleen kerran Jumala on suurempi kuin itsepäisyyteni ja mursi tuon puhkeamisen läpi, huuliherpeksen ja kaiken, minulla oli sukupuoliherpes. Minulle henkilökohtaisesti se, että kuulen yhä uudelleen ja uudelleen, kuinka en ole tarpeeksi hyvä, on vallannut mieleni pahimmalla mahdollisella tavalla. Sulkeuduin täysin ja heräilin vain ajattelemalla, että näin elämä päättyy, tämä väliaikainen herpes-epidemia? "Vitut kaikki herpes-potilaat, jos tiedätte mitä tarkoitan." Mutta ollaanpa rehellisiä...
ReplyDeleteOn pelkurimaista kieltäytyä yrttilääketieteestä. Se perustuu pelkoon. Ja se on epärehellistä sitä kohtaan, mitä sydämeni haluaa. Älä rakenna muuria ympärillesi, koska pelkäät yrttejä tai rohkeita askelia, varsinkin kun on kyse terveysongelmista ja parantumisesta. Niin monet nuoret miehet/naiset sanovat minulle yhä uudelleen ja uudelleen, että tohtori Jekawo aikoo huijata minua, mutta kokeilen häntä tänään. Minusta tuntuu, ettei kukaan koskaan saa minua vakuuttuneeksi rohdosvalmisteista. Hyväksyn tohtori Jekawon rohdosvalmisteet, koska ne paransivat herpesini vain kahden viikon juomisen jälkeen, ja olen elänyt niitä vuoden ja kuukausia. Epidemiaa ei ole enää esiintynyt. Voit ottaa häneen yhteyttä, jos tarvitset hänen rohdosvalmisteitaan mihin tahansa sairauksiin, kuten herpekseen, Parkinsonin tautiin, diabetekseen, hepatiittiin, oireyhtymään, syöpiin, HIV:hen, epilepsiaan, hedelmättömyyteen ja kaikenlaisiin sairauksiin ja infektioihin, hengelliseen konsultaatioon, entisen takaisin tuomiseen. Sähköposti: drjekawo@gmail.com ja sitten www.drjekawo.com.... Neuvoni kaikille sairaille miehille/naisille on yksinkertainen... Ole aina avoin kirja. Ole hermoja raastava, rehellinen itsestäsi, tilanteestasi ja siitä, mitä olet tekemässä. Älä pidättele mitään. Pidätteleminen ei vie sinua mihinkään... ehkä yksisuuntainen lippu Lonelyvilleen, eikä se ole paikka, jossa haluat olla. Eli viimeinen totuuteni... ja alan vasta tajuta tätä..
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DeleteI'm always suspicious about technology, probably because I don't really understand it. Even at school I used to work out maths problems myself because I didn't trust a calculator, haha.
ReplyDeleteThat was wise. Don't use a calculator unless you have a rough idea of the correct answer. 😊
Deletesince humans make errors, all humans, the findings available to AI are on the internet and all findings were created and put there by humans. AI is not thinking of new things but compiling things that others put there for it.. we all know we must NOT trust any thing we read on the internet unless we verify verify verify.. the only thing I like about it is the way it draws, but even that it pulls from what has already been drawn.
ReplyDeletethat said, I do wish I had an AI created robot that does my housework and one that can do potty duty clean up......
A housework robot is in most of our futures . . .
ReplyDeleteI think AI has its place but needs to be treated with a great deal of caution. User beware!
ReplyDeleteYes, beware.
ReplyDeleteol' AI. My daughter is a counselor and she is amused by some of the messages that are written directly to her each day. The first sentence usually speaks AI .....these messages are well written but even AI is recognized easily.
ReplyDeletePeople can use it without understanding just what they are saying, which can lead to the sort of messages your daughter receives.
DeleteAll true, AI has no logic. I got five different answers to answer one question. I gave up after the 5th try. It couldn’t differentiate that I was asking about something in 2025 and its answers repeatedly used an event in 2024.
ReplyDeleteIt makes things up, too. My daughter asked it something about 'Gormenghast' and the answers she received were just nonsense.
DeleteI have found it to be inaccurate on a number of occasions.
ReplyDeleteIt's so misleading for those who have no prior knowledge of a topic.
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ReplyDeleteHi Janice - I'm about to go to a group 'session' on AI - I'd love to meet Barry and learn ... I think there's a lot to benefit from with AI ... or ambient intelligence - but we need to remember human connectiveness which will benefit us more over time. We're in an interesting era - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your session - do enlighten us, please. 😊AI is here to stay and we must teach our citizens how to live with it (sounding very dictatorial there . . . 😟)
ReplyDeleteWe're golden oldies or wizened silvers ... there was this Youtube one ... I enjoyed the most ... https://www.ted.com/talks/david_mcwilliams_the_power_of_unconventional_thinking - noting music, poetry and economics - what's not to like?! Cheers - it's up to the youngsters to cope - thankfully ... I'll be pulling up daisies or looking down and wondering (well I hope it's down, not up!!). Cheers Hilary
DeleteLots of people delivering warnings about AI content this week it seems
ReplyDeleteIts the modern equivalent of snake-oil pedlars I guess.
You're right, of course, but people will continue with 'What I think is . . . '
DeleteWow, I am amazed that Barry was involved with it 50 years ago. Hadn't realize that it existed at all then. I have found some useful information on AI. But my favorite usage of it is finding recipes that have particular ingredients. Probably not a good use of all that electricity though.
ReplyDeleteIt has its uses, definitely!
ReplyDelete