A Not-So-Amazing Intelligence
With more than one Artificial Intelligence company placing Super Bowl ads this year, it’s clear AI has reached the big leagues.
Recent stories show why. One in early February on NBC News told of a stunning AI breakthrough: a man from Long Island paralyzed by an accident is able to speak and move again, thanks to a chip implanted in his brain.
When I went online looking for a link, I discovered a similar one about the man aired last year on CBS.
So did several others; one out of California also chronicled a bilingual AI brain implant helping a stroke survivor communicate in Spanish and English.
AI is giving people the ability to live life fully again. For that, I can cheer and doff my hat to the brilliant folks who have made this possible.
In fact, to grumble about AI in the face of such superhuman feats would have many exclaiming, “No way you can be opposed to AI!”
May I say, “Way”?
Foisted Upon Us
I speak from a jaundiced point of view. Making a living shaping articles and books and knowing the reasoning and emotional depth that requires, I get bothered by claims that a machine can do it just as well.
It can’t, which AI proves regularly with its mangled (often wooden) language and nonsensical directions. If AI were a traffic cop, we’d all be dead.
What I object to most is it being foisted upon us, whether we want it or not, and whether it works or not.
Take my recent experience with an anti-virus program. My two-year license had expired, but the shop where I purchased it is defunct.
Fortunately, a grandson told me where I could make a third-party purchase. But when I went to complete the download, the anti-virus folks told me I had entered the wrong email address.
I finally connected with the third-party’s customer service. You guessed it: powered by AI. Naturally, it gave me a batch of worthless instructions.
I finally went back and started over, and somehow managed to get the anti-virus program downloaded.
When asked by the third-party supplier’s customer service for a rating, I gave them the lowest one possible.
Customer Disservice
I had a similar experience once after purchasing a new modem. When the installation went awry, I called the cable company for help; the AI chatbot told me I could go online. I explained I couldn’t get online. Finally, it hung up on me.
Fortunately, I got a text asking for feedback. I gave them a 0. AI asked why and I said I hadn’t gotten any help. That prompted a phone call, which then brought a service technician to resolve the problem.
But the burr that has been getting under my saddle lately is Microsoft trying to thrust its AI feature into my life.
Since I do much of my work in Word, it’s impossible to ignore. I’ve tried, but now the program is trying to insert suggestions into documents that I don’t want—or need.
It’s no wonder that the question I’ve seen voiced most often in the two freelancers’ groups I belong to is: “How do I turn this thing off?”
What’s more, unless I act soon to return to the “classic” version, they will add $30 to my annual fee for a feature that I don’t want.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m caught in the age of early Windows, pelted by pop-up ads and not knowing how to duck. Wish I had an AI assistant who could fend them off.
