What is AI?

Blog week entry

I hear a lot of talk about AI, for and against, but I wouldn't have the foggiest how to use it, nor would I want to. My computer skills are from the last century. So is my computer for that matter.

One thing I do know is that computers need input in order to create output. October Nano Prep comes to mind. By the time you have given the AI an outline, character profiles, etc. you might as well do the work yourself. The use of AI is basically laziness.

The first 'computer' I worked with was in the sixties. It was a wooden box with lights and switches. Made pretty pictures. If you knew how to convert numbers to binary it could add up but you still had to convert back to get your answer. The early home PCs weren't much better.

As for ChatBots don't get me started. You might as well talk to a brick wall. You ask a question and you get a menu of set queries, none of which are relevant. They take you around the houses then just when you think you're getting somewhere they say goodbye.

It's the same with econsults at the doctors. The number of times I have been told to call an ambulance when all I want is a repeat prescription ...

Cyber attacks are on the increase. The world uses computers for everything and when that goes wrong the shit hits the fan. I'm not a Ludite or I wouldn't be on this site, but there's a lot to be said for pen and paper.

Are we creating a generation incapable of stringing a few sentences together without the support of AI? What happened to imagination? Will we end up with generic formula novels where the only difference is names and settings?

I used to read Mills and Boon romances. It didn't take long before I realised that each was a rehash of the same old story. And that was before AI had been thought of. Authors or automatons? Is this the future we have to look forward to? Or, more importantly, our children and grandchildren.

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