I decided to consult Chatgpt for workout advice. The results are not wonderful. It hasn’t reached the level of personal assistant that everyone expects from the device. I am considering an AI deep dive in order to see where it is at vs where we want it to be (based on our fiction) and how the two could or should ever meet. I’ll be having it design a suitable work schedule and workout routines and more. I hope to use the device to fully dive into the possibilities of what AI can do to improve lives without replacing actual intelligence and learning. That is a tough boat to row, so to speak. Presently the fears surrounding AI (which were created by stories) are hampering the use of the tool. However, laziness is more of a hinderance, because the masses don’t want to put effort into what they don’t want to put effort into and things such as AI make it much easier to overlook the fundamentals. This leads to generations of nonsense. The future is not, however, set.
I think a lot about the future in the turn to midlife (and the existential crisis therein). By some accounts I am deep into my middle years and I tend to act like it all too often. I’m hoping AI can jar me out of some of that. I think the trick here is really working with the AI and not just asking a simple question. One of my kids taught me about programming your AI, and I have since observed how and when it updates its own memory to my presumed preferences and information. This is more frightening to me as an older man than it is to the young people who are used to being tracked and have developed a comfort level with the practice I refuse to match.
All of this is to say that AI may be useful as a tool if it is used as a tool and not a crutch. AI can be an extension of the way google search tools may be properly used if we allow ourselves to treat it as such. However, how we DO treat AI is quite a large spectrum, and as the intricacies of the medium (for there are so many large language models and other types now) increase we find ourselves pushed away from the center in a near-political manner.
There is good and bad to be had from any new tool. We’ve known this since sharpened sticks; since fire. We have our new tool and as we continue to grow and master it, we must understand that like fire, it may spread out of our control… should we mistakenly or even purposely let it.