13 Comments
User's avatar
Crixcyon's avatar

Thoughts on A/i? Why? It never thinks about me.

Expand full comment
Rick Dowling's avatar

Thanks for the morning humor! 😂

Expand full comment
Dixie OConnor's avatar

Loved reading about the heroism of Ahmed al Ahmed and that people are stepping up to help with his medical expenses. Would that there were more Ahmeds in the world.

Expand full comment
Darrell's avatar
6hEdited

I suspect there are many more like Ahmed that are overshadowed by the “others” that do not share his spirit of treating others - even those that do not share his religious beliefs - as human. We only notice the good guys when there is a situation such as this.

I wonder how I would react in his situation….

I read first on my iPad (no app) and then later on iPad or iPhone (via the app).

Expand full comment
Dixie OConnor's avatar

I was wondering the same thing about myself, Darrell. Time for some self-reflection on this end.

Expand full comment
val Fletcher's avatar

AI is really good at connecting dots and recognizing patterns. In doing so it is also absolutely influenced by the dots it has available, and the objectives it has been programmed for. Garbage in, garbage out. Bias in, bias out.

Like everything, it can be used for the personal good or the greater good. Sometimes those equate to good and good, but also sometimes to good and evil, sometimes to evil and good respectively. IT DEPENDS.

Deciding what to depend on takes judgement. Judgement is a very personal contextual thing.

I am definitely worried about AI.

Expand full comment
Swammer's avatar

AI is useful, especially for connecting the dots, but what worries me is it’s getting harder to figure out what’s fact or fiction. For me, it means I trust results even less than a year ago and feel I must do more due diligence than before. The slop is real.

Expand full comment
Sarah Ealy's avatar

I have no problem reading the AI overview when I Google something, but I dont use it to help me create anything. I know many people who use AI to write everything instead of opening a word document and typing. That drives me nuts. And no, I don't want my whole house automated. Heck, I don't even have wifi at my house to connect all those "smart" devices to!! 🤣

Expand full comment
Sarah Ealy's avatar

And I'm only 35!!!

Expand full comment
Patty McGlasson's avatar

What timing! I encourage our employees to use AI regularly for “research” as a beginning, however, just yesterday 2 of us were collaborating on a proposal and looked to AI for a specific sentence verbiage and my coworker said ‘I’m going to forget how to write if I keep doing this’. We laughed and completed our sentence using the AI words…

I will say this comment resonated with both of us. I am almost 70 so not as concerned about my generation as much as my younger employees. I encourage the use of AI to be sure they are keeping up with changes but also remind them to always backcheck the info. This article reminds me to collaborate more often with everyone at work so we can keep our brains fresh.

Thanks Bill as always. Additionally, I read on both my phone and my desktop depending on timing.

Expand full comment
Scott McDaniel's avatar

I disagree. I write. I publish. I use AI as it’s intended. It is a tool, not a stand in, and I remember what I write.

We didn’t lose our minds when we moved from manual Royal typewriters to word processors, then computers, and we won’t lose them now. Tools change how we work, not whether we think.

Used actively, AI sharpens thinking. Used passively, it dulls it. That distinction has always mattered and always will.

The real issue isn’t AI, it’s ownership.

Expand full comment
Anthony Luchtefeld's avatar

I am concerned that some will rely on AI and forget that AI is depending on our thoughts and actions in order to exist.

Expand full comment
SPW's avatar

David Corn had written a piece in his newsletter about Ahmed al Ahmed and how he did what he saw had to be done, no matter the cost. My thought at the time and a subsequent comment was, “Ahmed was that good guy who showed up without a gun and still got the job done”.

My techie son uses AI for all sorts of different tech related things but not for writing. He’s got that skill down pat. Personally, I like bouncing ideas off of real people. The few times I ever interacted with Chat GPT for instance, the answers to my queries weren’t accurate. That turned me off right there. And then, we got a healthy dose of AI generated pictures that turned humans into semi aliens. Now, it it ever gets perfected, I’ll use it but only if it will come out with a Scottish accent.

This is kind of a lat minute thing but if there are any NASCAR fans here, there apparently has been a bad plane crash at the Statesville, NC Regional Airport just north of Charlotte that involved the plane owned by Greg Biffle. There have been casualties but no names have yet been released however.

Expand full comment