AI Overview

Regarding AI and the you ain’t seen nothing yet syndrome

Those of us who grew up with story time in the library with Miss England have in the last 20 plus years enjoyed a digital reference library of global scope in the form of the world wide web. I have often wondered what Miss England would think of her ring of child faces now, considering the richly featured libraries that we all have at hand (no Dewey Decimal system needed).

In fact, an Internet that started out as a connection of scientific hubs has evolved into e-businesses, social media, streaming media, mobile smart phones, and whole new ecosytems for money and human connection.

None of that was apparent for the viewers of Mosaic, the first web browser to include images on web pages.

To say that the Internet has rewritten the human experience is not out of line.

Informationally, we live like royalty. Even in Eldora, Iowa.

Even so, disruptive technologies can themselves be disrupted.

On January 1, 2016, my dear Iowa Hawkeye football team faced Stanford in the Rose Bowl, which immediately turned into the Christian McCaffrey show, as he piled up over 300 yards in running and catching against a previously credible Iowa defense. There was a sense that there literally was nothing Iowa could do against such a talent, so my subsequent nickname for McCaffrey has been force majeure – an unstoppable force of nature.

Just like that football game, there is a similar sense of jaw-dropping wonder in watching artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT at work.

Any topic can be instantly summarized, with a credible level of detail and competence. Writing that would previously have taken (with research) an hour, now manifests in an eye blink. The only expenditure of time is the minute or so that it takes to write the prompt sentence or question/request of the database.

Google searches are great. We thought that was state of the art. But a written summary, with a tone and writing style of your choice? Stellar.

The plethora of new AI apps that are exploding into the digital marketplace on the tail of ChatGPT is simply breathtaking.

Some are free and wonderful. Others have a cost and are also wonderful. Then there are the apps that are simply leveraging free AI technology to sell packaged tools to people who don’t know about the free options.

In any case, those us of watching this new game emerge think that it has the potential to again radically change the  jobs, information access, manufacturing, entertainment, and a host of other aspects of human life.

If you have a hat, better tie it on, because you are going to need both hands to function in the winds that are on their way.