2023 - Where did that go?
I may have lost a few things down the back of the sofa...
Well, that went fast!
2023 was certainly the year of AI. Well, to most of us anyway. Again, I cannot help thinking the “real” AI scientists out there are probably rolling their eyes at us minions lapping up all of the “AI”. Then again, it took companies like OpenAI to bring AI to the masses.
I remember a few years ago reading an article about GPT. It was in a very locked-down release, and I remember a legal person explaining how this was going to change the world (certainly for writing legal letters etc.). I don’t think many people had access to the early version, but this was certainly 4 years+ ago. Having not seen the output/example, it was hard to really take on the immensity of the coming AI storm.
I do also remember playing, and reading about, AI Dungeon on my android phone a while back too. This was also powered using an early version of GPT I believe. It is a game based on the old text-based adventures of old, but in this case, the story is AI-generated to provide a fresh new adventure every time.
I have been exploring some “practical” uses of the new AI maelstrom, which isn’t easy given the hype and mass of the constant AI releases. Certainly, in coding, using things like GitHub Copilot (or just Copilot I am guessing now!) does wonders for my dev explorations albeit it can get a little annoying sometimes when it keeps jumping in to “assist” me! Having said that, most of the “assists” are pretty useful ;)
Not to mention some database SQL assistance which, in my line of work, has been a massive help. This help was mostly down to SQL syntax of some more advanced pieces - but you still need to know what the hell the code does! Initially, if it works, you just paste into your query and off you go. Until you have to modify the query! Sure, you can get GPT to help, but the point being you have to know what it is you need (not always straight-forward), be able to describe that clearly to the AI (prompt engineering anyone?) and then deal with the output and be able to manage and understand that output.
Still, given Microsoft’s “Copilot everywhere” moniker, it will continue to help - especially when you don’t use Excel every day for example! Asking the Copilot to do this and that in Excel isn’t a bad use of millions of dollars of processing power from the LLM training exercise!!
AI is firmly with us now. Like most tools and technology, how it is used is up to us. Oh, we are all doomed then! From virtual avatars/influencers on social media to get your clicks, to some downright silly image/video creations, maybe we do need to be aware there will always be positive and negative uses.
2024 is going to be an interesting one. I wonder if AI will be able to sort the world out… errrr, now I am thinking Cyberdyne Systems and Terminator!
On that cheery note, take care and have a lovely “anxiety free” new year!
