Careful consideration of workflow and process and data and outcomes – none of them very sexy, yet all essential – drive useful forms of artificial intelligence.

Replace “artificial intelligence” with any IT technology and that describes literally everything in the IT industry. It is a statement of staggering meaninglessness, mostly because it's difficult to figure out what one means when one says “artificial intelligence”.

Lest you think that I'm being excessively nitpicky, please consider that there was an [1]AI white paper done by the EU that defined AI as “a collection of technologies that combine data, algorithms and computing power.” That's… that's software . That's the entire IT field. They're all technologies that combine data, algorithms and computing power. That's everything in IT… and therefore that sentence really means nothing.

So, what's AI? I can buy it if one says “machine learning”. That's useful. Computer vision's great. Speech transcription and generation, great. Almost everything that calls itself “generative AI” looks bad . AI for search is useless and potentially harmful. Do not use it for therapy. Decision support will probably need to be carefully deployed, like any other technology. Large language models? Actually, if you use it for its intended use, i.e. predicting lexical tokens in a stream of lexical tokens? Does better than its competitors.

The problem with “AI” is that it fundamentally is a meaningless term that conveys nothing. It could mean any of the above. Or, according to that EU white paper, it's interchangeable with anything involving algorithms, data and compute, which… that doesn't say a lot, while sounding like it can be anything .

[1] https://commission.europa.eu/publications/white-paper-artificial-intelligence-european-approach-excellence-and-trust_en

I came here to say pet much the same thing. But you put it far better than I would have. Bravo!

I’m really tired of reading “AI”. Nobody ever says what the application is - “AI” may as well mean unicorn dust. If it’s an LLM then your “AI” is basically a search engine. If that’s the case then say it’s a search engine application. If it makes pretty pictures then say it’s a pretty picture generator. Other than utilities to cheat and scam people, these are the only two “AI” applications I can think of - if there are more then I don’t know because NOBODY EVER SAYS WHAT THEY ARE - it’s all just “AI”!!

As with all earlier 'search engines' ... one has to know just what TO ASK to get the right answers. ALL of my current interaction with the 'AI chatbots' have failed to show any intelligence in addressing the real question and in a number of cases actually took a lot of time addressing the wrong target. A normal 'search' gave me the answer a lo quicker and when correcting the 'AI tool' it always seems to apologise for not actually giving the correct answer in the first place! As with search engines of the past, we have to relearn how to get the right answer which often means we need to actually know that answer before wording the question? Even more so with Advanced Idiot tools ;)

It has the potential to be a new fire, and in a good way, benefitting the whole of mankind - but only if the benefits are shared and combined with other advancements like a universal basic income.

Imagine a world where everyone is freed of drudgery. Boxes are filled, delivered and stacked on shelves by machine. The cleaning is done by AI. Tax returns are filled in automatically and accurately. The people who did do those tasks still have an income and are now freed to spend their time on further education. Creating art. Pushing themselves further than they’ve ever been able to push themselves before in their special field of interest. Or, yes, just watch TV. The point is that it will be their choice to live their lives in the manner that they find most fulfilling.

Or, we could leave in the hands of the very richest and let them grind the poor further into the dirt.

Sadly, I suspect I know which way we’re heading.

Ah, the relief of drudgery - a common theme since the 1970s.

Back in 1982, Clive Sinclair prophetically said this: "Early in the next century we will have made intelligent machines, ending for all time the current pattern of drudgery. It may well be that western civilisation is just about to flower", whilst two years before, then-famous computer scientist Christopher Evans stated "What I think is going to happen is that with the computer revolution ... will have a tremendous effect in increasing prosperity and removing drudgery ... Like it or not, the technology is going to overwhelm us. So, as for some of the eerie futures that seem possible, I don't think we've got much option. Take the case of machine intelligence. It's going to be just too useful for us not to develop it".

What always happens though is that some new drudgery will be found to replace the old. Is this wave of "AI" any different?

> What always happens though is that some new drudgery will be found to replace the old.

Well, yes. Drudgery is not a technological problem. It has not been a technological problem for quite a while now. Drudgery is a political and economical problem. It will not be solved through technology.

If technology actually killed drudgery, which would require an advancement so fast that we can't come up with new drudgery quickly enough (the singularity or something), the entire system would quickly collapse, we'd have a bloody revolution or ten, and then the survivors would come up with a political/economical solution.

But no, there is no plausible way that technology can solve drudgery.

I mean, we still have a large majority of the population that believes that not working while able is intrinsically immoral, and that material wealth is a worthy goal in itself. As long as philosophies like that are prevalent, drudgery is here to stay.

So, to properly use "AI", you have to be trained.

Well, given how well companies are focussed on training their employees, I'm sure they'll have no trouble punting the issue to schools and universities to ensure that the next generation of starry-eyed meat fresh from the diploma mills will handle those pesky AI issues just like today's batch handles Excel formulas : badly.

And I say it's a Good Thing TM . I hope that the whole current generation of AI trash gets dismantled so that we can make a new generation that will no longer be in everyone's hands (save for pretty picture generators) but in the hands of actual, competent people.

And yes, I would like a winning lottery ticket with that, thank you.