AI and recipes

 

AI and recipes

Barry has taken over culinary duties, to my relief. All I have to do is order the ingredients and that I can do easily. He enjoys cooking, which I don’t. He is officially diabetic, recently confirmed, though working to reverse it, and knowing his determination, he will achieve his aim.

He also has a renal problem, so food that is good for one condition is not necessarily appropriate for the other. AI has proved useful in providing suitable recipes.

He started counting calories in a bid to lose more weight to counter the diabetes, though he is by no means heavy, weighing only around two stone more than when he was a fit young man of twenty.

I’ve joined him in calorie counting, just for curiosity. It’s amazing to discover just how many calories there are in the simplest things.

AI is not foolproof and must be checked for accuracy. 

Aye aye, AI, beware!

 

Aye aye, AI, beware!

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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.