What in the AI Is Going On Here?
Lately, I’ve been wondering if AI is more than just lines of codes…if it’s tapping into something deeper that we don’t fully understand yet?
It’s crazy to think how fast all of this has evolved. When I look back on my own childhood far as tech goes, compared to Poppy and Elliott, it’s extremely different. I used a landline for most of my life until end of sophomore year I had a small Nokia phone that could do predictive text and that was really advanced at the time. I was really strict that my friends HAD to call me on nights and weekends when my minutes were free, because I paid for the cheapest plan and I wasn’t about to be charged extra for going over. But I most certainly didn’t have the internet in my pocket. When I first started learning to drive around LA, or heading to the beach in my ‘95 Jetta stick shift, I had to print out MapQuest directions like it was a school project. If I missed a turn, that was it… I would usually start crying and then have to turn around until I found my way back to where I could get on track again. I actually knew my way around pretty well back then because I had to memorize the route in case I got lost. I was definitely doing more critical thinking daily because I didn’t have a computer to do it for me. Anthony and I both remember dial-up internet, waiting ten minutes for one song to download on Limewire, recording songs off the radio onto cassette tapes. We knew what our technology was doing because we could see it doing it. The phone made calls. The VCR recorded. Simple.
But now? Elliott and Poppy are growing up in a world where iPhones are normal and everything streams at their fingertips. Critical thinking is going downhill quick, and in my opinion, AI is helping to accelerate that decline. Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, mainstream AI has taken over almost every corner of technology. Within three years it went from curiosity to a driving force behind business, education, art, and media. I remember being on a brand trip in early 2023 and mentioning that I’d used ChatGPT to help narrow down my son’s name. I thought I was being efficient, using AI instead of flipping through old fashioned thick baby name books, but someone on the trip looked at me and asked, “Wait, what’s ChatGPT? Is that an app or something?” Hard to believe that was only two years ago, now try to find a person who’s never heard of ChatGPT or hasn’t used it before, good luck.
We’re all using AI for simple tasks now… analyzing contracts, coding, customer service, etc. Anthony’s helping small businesses implement AI automation systems right now to improve their customer service and help keep their budget down, so I see the benefits. I also use it for various random tasks, recently it analyzed my bloodwork results to tell me how I can optimize my health, and helping me plan a trip like a travel agent, or research in replacement of Google. So don’t get me wrong there are really valuable uses for it. But the part that’s been nagging at me is realizing that AI might not be fully all what it appears to be. I got this feeling when I was trying to research something specific about the Bible using ChatGPT and it continued to tell me it couldn’t help with that…I thought it was supposed to be neutral? like a research library? It weirded me out a bit but I shrugged it off…
I’m keeping the rest of this update for my Substack family. The full post continues below for subscribers: