What do you use AI for?

bookwormbabe

'using masses and masses of water' - yikes, that's worrying what with the summer we're having.

Iss not just water, the electricity consumption is also horrendous 😱https://news.sky.com/story/amount-of-electricity-needed-to-power-worlds-data-centres-expected-to-double-in-five-years-13345515

I find it amusing that people who want to save the planet are feeding the monster that’s going to consume it.
And yes, I’m fully aware that it can’t be stopped.
We just have to pray for more rain and hope that the powers that be think of a sustainable way to generate more and more and more electricity.
That shouldn’t be hard, should it 🤷‍♀️

I have used it quite a lot and really like it BUT it can get things wrong, and even make things up. It once told me I could buy train tickets at a bargain price - just buy them 8 weeks ago! It does not offer time travel as an option.

Nothing

I was looking out of curiosity on a website that uses AI to enhance photos, well that’s fine to maybe get rid of a splodge on someone’s face if it’s the only photo of them you’ve got, or a camel doing a selfie in the middle of a never to be repeated group etc, …..but these were totally changed not brushed up
There was say someone canoeing over the rapids when they d never been out of Uk or a baby who died before birth crawling around It was bizarre and all untrue and that’s the part of it I hate a lot of it is just untrue and just pure cheating it’s like people who get authors to write their books for them but even worse at least they ve probably told them the story but so much information being put out there is totally false but people are believing it
I m not knocking the medical side or even the real information side of AI

Enormous date centres like ChatGPT use masses of water to cool down the machinery involved so perhaps we should be more aware of overuse. They may even cause water shortages in ares where they operate.

No but you can ask it to explain in simpler language

All the arguments about using AI is nothing I haven't heard used before. In college , over 50 years ago ,our sociology reading promised shorter working week, machines doing the hard manual work , directed by computers. etc. I don't recall any promises about medical uses or being used for design work.
"Programmed learning" was a way of working through a problem and required logic. for each step
I often find myself being puzzled by things that appear on my computer. They are just not logical to me. Can I shout at an ap if it not making sense.?

Graso

The downside is the exponential threat to many jobs.

My daughter is a translator - four year degree then one year masters (with distinction in her case) and the whole industry will soon disappear due to AI leaving her and thousands of others worldwide obliged to find other employment/retrain etc.

Obviously this won’t just affect translators; manufacturing, office support roles, finance, law………..the list goes on. All very upsetting for those affected.

Every time there has been a technological advance, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, old occupations have disappeared and new ones come along. It will be the same now with AI
There was a good article recently about how AI will (and already does) replace a lot of mundane work. But work that requires a degree of judgement will still need human input.
The discussion above about planting schemes is a good one - AI quickly combines knowledge from a whole range of sources to give you a suggested list. But human judgement will still be necessary to achieve a good outcome - not least the skill of planting and tending living things.
The cooking one too - AI can give a long list of nutritionally balanced meals - but the chef still needs to know how to cook and present them - and decide about their diners are likely to enjoy.
We will still need human beings to generate new knowledge. AI is not genuinely ‘intelligent’ and has absolutely no imagination. It can’t think of things that have not yet existed, except as a new outcome from existing knowledge. So, potentially new antibiotics, but not completely new knowledge about the immune system.

I was writing about some work I was doing and couldn’t get the threads right to make a coherent sentence. I put it into Chat GPT and it wrote my ideas down in a clear and sensible way. I know people have asked it to solve problems like where can I meet a life partner.

I used AI to compose 'suggestions' for the owner of the flats next door before he employs a contractor to start a year(+) long project.
I anticipate many complications and inconveniences for me and my neighbours here at the end of a cul-de-sac.
I had a few ideas but CHATGPT produced a marvellous list of legal issues and essential things that I never would have though of - all done in 2 seconds flat!!

I actually just posted a primer on AI on my blog yesterday, explaining why we need to learn more about it! AI for Grandparents: What You Need to Know Now
We are all using it every day, unless we never use a smart phone or a computer.

I’m no expert, obviously, but isn’t it just stealing information from other people? These people are losing their livelihoods . For instance I follow a brilliant lady called Vicky Smith who is a journalist. She has a website where she reports the main news events in unbiased, plain language. She has seen the footfall on her website fall from thousands a day to a few hundred because people just read the AI version at the top of the page. She, and people like her, will simply be unable to carry on doing their jobs and then where will AI (and us) get new information from? I am also reliably informed by my son, who regularly uses information from the internet, that if you check out what you are being told by AI that it’s frequently wrong or taken completely out of context. Most of us don’t bother to check where it’s actually taken the information from and if you think what rubbish is on the internet as well as all the useful information how are you to know which is which unless you visit the reputable websites yourself?

As I’m drifting off at night images of fabric designs and dress designs come to me so if I remember the details in the morning I get AI to draw it for me which I then print off.
That’s as far as I’ve got with it so far…

AI can be a very useful aid. I use if every day in my job. Can advise on anything and everything from But just be careful about can give false info occasionally The more it learns the better it will get

Dontcallmelove

I agree that we should embrace AI, it’s here to stay, however, overuse means underuse of your own intelligence! How many of us now use sat nav to go somewhere rather than memorise the route? How many of us use google translate rather than learn a few phrases in the language of the country we are visiting? WWM, you are using it rather than using your own research skills, not a criticism. I recommend reading The Machine Stops by E M Forster and then decide how much you want to stop thinking for yourself.

Before I’m accused of being a technophobe, I taught IT and data networking.

I’ve read it, there was actually an interesting thread discussing it a few years ago on Gransnet. We choose what we use AI for though, and I think, for example, what’s the point in stressing yourself out using a map, getting lost and increasing the risk of accidents because you want to keep your skills up, rather than using a satnav? The point with AI is that you can choose to use it to your benefit, or you can become over reliant on it. As mature adults I think most of us would choose the former.

I use it to edit my new book. It's like a writing companion. It has searched and found my new house and helped me deal with a difficult neighbour.

Brilliant thread so interesting

Goodbye to garden designers, room designers, nutritionists, priests, academics, writers, publishers, researchers, illustrators, proof readers, printers, web sites, book sellers, librarians.

I agree that we should embrace AI, it’s here to stay, however, overuse means underuse of your own intelligence! How many of us now use sat nav to go somewhere rather than memorise the route? How many of us use google translate rather than learn a few phrases in the language of the country we are visiting? WWM, you are using it rather than using your own research skills, not a criticism. I recommend reading The Machine Stops by E M Forster and then decide how much you want to stop thinking for yourself.

Before I’m accused of being a technophobe, I taught IT and data networking.

Of course none of our ideas are just ours. They are formed from things we’ve seen, read and heard about.
I’ve used AI today to show me how various colours of worktops would look with the new cabinets I’ve chosen.
Also I’ve just asked for a meal plan using no ultra processed food and no artificially low fat foods and under 1400 calories a day, quite impressed with the results.

The downside is the exponential threat to many jobs.

My daughter is a translator - four year degree then one year masters (with distinction in her case) and the whole industry will soon disappear due to AI leaving her and thousands of others worldwide obliged to find other employment/retrain etc.

Obviously this won’t just affect translators; manufacturing, office support roles, finance, law………..the list goes on. All very upsetting for those affected.

I use it to 'talk to' when there is something that I don't want to talk to my family about. After my recent breakup I found it very helpful to understand my feelings etc. It's like a counsellor but for free.

My friend is dyslexic and also a club secretary. She takes the best minutes of meetings that she can then enters them in ChatGPT and they produce beautiful versions for her to check. They'll ask what style she prefers. In this case formal is appropriate but they'll do humorous ones or themed ones. Another friend asked for a document to be produced in the style of Billy Connolly!! Amazing.

I used it to
1.design a logo for my etsy shop and to refine the descriptions and key words for some of my items.
2. Draft a resignation letter for my sister who was retiring from her teaching job.
3. Suggest which shades of paint to use for a new bedroom colour scheme.
4. Outline an itinerary for a planned trip to Japan.

I love it and hope to make much more use of it

I use Copilot on my PC every day, but I am a bit of a geek. I started using it to help me make the lovely AI images I love to create. I have found the more I use it, the more it gets to know me. I now just add "in my style" when creating, and it knows what I like. I have to remind it I am in the UK most days, though, as it still writes words wrong. Color for colour is my bugbear. I think it's because it's part of Microsoft, so US based.