THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023  |  

COMMENT

Many of us will soon find ourselves embracing generative artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives.  Those who resist will be akin to those who clung to those outdated library card catalogs. Prominent examples of this technology include ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Anthropic’s Claude, and Inflection’s Pi.  Productivity-enhancing AI tends to boost our output, altering how we work without necessarily reducing our overall work hours.  Recently, major U.S. tech companies have revealed their intentions to deeply integrate generative AI into the everyday tools we rely on, making avoidance nearly

impossible.  In the past two weeks alone, Microsoft announced the comprehensive integration of generative AI tools into Windows 11, Google updated its Bard AI to draw from all your documents, emails, and calendar data, Amazon showcased enhanced generative AI capabilities for its Alexa smart assistant, and Meta introduced chat-based assistants and celebrity-driven chatbots across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.

Even Apple, in the process of developing its own text-based generative AI, introduced a new accessibility feature for iPhones using a different form of generative AI to replicate a user’s voice.  While the accessibility and prevalence of generative AI tools do not guarantee their widespread use, early adopters are already benefiting from their utility, suggesting broader adoption on the horizon.

However, one potential challenge with using AI in this manner is its proclivity to generate incorrect information (i.e., BS), an inherent aspect of its functioning that may be difficult to eliminate.  This limitation somewhat reduces its value, requiring human oversight for all AI-generated work.  Nevertheless, AI excels at handling routine tasks, such as generating standard code or text, transforming its users into editors rather than content creators. 

AI has become an essential tool, and not embracing it means missing out on its potential benefits.  Ultimately, AI is all about trying to achieve better results with less effort.