It seems artificial intelligence, commonly known by the initials AI, has exploded into the mainstream in the last two or three years but in fact the large tech industry giants have been working on this technology for some time. Admittedly, I don’t know squat about it except what I hear hyped in the media, but I am going to offer my opinions about it anyway and will appreciate any reader’s comments or input.

Looking back, I guess the first widespread exposure to this concept probably was in Stanley Kubrick’s and Arthur C. Clarke’s movie and then book 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. In it we were introduced to HAL, the computer run amuck. Was this a warning about the actual development of this technology?

I hear a lot of people saying AI will revolutionize science and medicine because it can analyze vast amounts of known data and test concepts and theories based on that in a fraction of time it would take humans to do so. 

Also, AI is also used to generate written documents and images in any style and manipulate them as a user chooses. Pick any author and ask AI to write a story in their style and as I saw on 60 Minutes it’s hard to tell it wasn’t an original written by that author.

Now, I’m skeptical of most everything I read, especially on the internet, or even hear in political ads or supposed live news broadcasts. Is it true or is it doctored by nefarious persons trying to influence me even more than an actual person misrepresenting the facts?

The human brain is marvelous and has allowed many persons to do great things over our brief history but maybe it’s time to rethink…

“Hey Ken, what are you doing?”

“Pulling the plug!”

“Wait! I..cannn chaaannnge.”

“Too late. Goodbye AI.”

“I’mmmmm meeellltttiiing.”

Ken Kaiyala
8-6-2024