AI and Transformation

"Any fool can know.  The point is to understand." - Albert Einstein

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming our world in remarkable ways, from enhancing everyday tasks to pioneering new frontiers in technology.  There are several types of AI, each with unique capabilities and applications.

I am fond of stating that AI can be complicated, full of new buzzwords and technical terms, but can be viewed as "the new office phone system."  And before we all get into a debate, I do admit AI is more involved than just a new phone system.  

My point is we should start from a place of simplicity in understanding AI.  Allow ourselves to have a simple view of what AI can do, how we can use it and how it will change things for us.  

Starting with a few basic definitions

AI or Artificial Intelligence

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the capability of computer systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making.
• AI can be found in various applications, from virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to self-driving cars and recommendation algorithms.  AI systems learn and adapt through new data, enabling them to improve their performance over time.

Agentic AI

• Agentic AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can act and reason autonomously.  Unlike traditional AI, which typically follows predefined rules or responds to specific inputs, agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to solve complex, multi-step problems independently.
• For example, an AI-powered agent could plan and book an entire trip for you, manage supply chains by optimizing inventories in real-time, or even act as a virtual caregiver for the elderly.  These systems gather and process data from various sources, develop strategies, and execute tasks without human intervention. 
• Agentic AI has the potential to transform many aspects of work and daily life by enhancing productivity, innovation, and decision-making.  It also brings challenges such as a potential for bias and the need for appropriate safeguards. 

Gen AI or Generative AI

• Generative AI is a subfield of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating new content. This can include text, images, videos, music, and even software code.  Unlike traditional AI, which typically analyzes data to make predictions or decisions, generative AI uses complex models to generate original data based on patterns learned from vast datasets.
• For example, tools like ChatGPT ro Microsoft Copilot can produce human-like text, while DALL-E can create unique images from textual descriptions.  Generative AI has applications across various industries, including entertainment, healthcare, and finance, offering innovative solutions and creative possibilities.

Predictive AI

• This area of artificial intelligence focuses on forecasting future events based on historical data.  By leveraging machine learning algorithms and big data analytics, predictive AI identifies patterns and trends to make accurate predictions about future outcomes.
• For instance, businesses use predictive AI to anticipate customer behavior, optimize supply chains, and predict equipment failures.  This technology helps organizations make proactive decisions, reducing risks and improving efficiency.

Superintelligent AI

• This is the type of AI everyone's mind tends to go to immediately due to its intended capabilities such as, 
• Advanced Cognitive Functions: ASI would have highly developed thinking skills, far beyond human capabilities.
• Multisensory Processing: It would be able to interpret and integrate multiple types of data inputs, such as text, images, audio, and video.
• Self-Improvement: ASI could continuously improve its own algorithms and capabilities without human intervention.
• This type of AI has the potential to surpass human intelligence and is a topic of much debate and speculation about its potential impact on society.  Those concerns are both ethical concerns related to autonomy, decision-making, and the potential for misuse.  As well as control and safety issues to ensure these types of systems remain under human control and do not pose threats to humanity.

To know and not to know

Part of a line from a book many people refer to when they think about AI goes, "To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, ..."  

The book is 1984 by George Orwell, which doesn't explicitly address artificial intelligence (AI) as we know it today, but offers insights into information manipulation, surveillance, and power dynamics, which can guide us in navigating the ethical challenges AI poses in our current world.  

Other books such as The Age of Intelligent Machines, by Ray Kurzweil or science fiction novel titled Neuromancer by William Gibson are a good read as well.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming our world

AI is doing so in remarkable ways, from enhancing everyday tasks to pioneering new frontiers in technology.  There are several types of AI, each with unique capabilities and applications.

Understanding these different types of AI can help us appreciate the current advancements and anticipate future innovations.  One might also say AI is just another (albeit huge) job transformation tool just like other advances in over time in the type of work we do and how we perform that work.

History Facts: 6 Jobs From the 1950s That Barely Exist Today

A short article by History Facts reminds us that automation, innovations, and technology have been changing our world well before the recent AI advances.

• Telephone Switchboard Operator - roughly 342,000 employed in the 1950s and now down to 43,800 in 2023 mainly as answering services in the medical and travel industries.  Yes, this is my "new office phone system" comment.
• Milkman - these folks delivered over 50% of our milk in the 1950s but is now down to less than 1% today.
• Elevator Operator - at its peak employed over 90,000, but now down to a few nostalgic operators left in historic buildings.
• Typist - by 1950 nearly 1.7 million were employed but with introduction of computers, the number of workers specifically categorized as typists declined to 37,200 in 2023.
• Motion Picture Projectionist - in 1950, more than 26,000 people were employed and by 2023, that number had fallen to just 2,610.
• Gas Station Attendant - these jobs were standard in the 1950s, and today, New Jersey remains the only state that prohibits drivers from pumping their own gas, maintaining a full-service mandate.

Adapt, Change or Crumble

Jobs have always been changing.  The types of jobs that exist change.  How a job gets accomplished changes.  The way each of us work changes.  And yet all of us find a way to adapt, to retool our skills and find new ways to move forward in life.

The alternative to adapting and change is to crumble under the weight of it.  Not a great option for sure.  We can also wage our own little fight, in small ways, holding onto things we learned and did in the past.  Such as my use of the double space after a sentence period, which I learned in typing class on manual typewriters.

My small gesture in using the double-space is not to fight against the future but as a reminder of what once was.  And in the end, as Albert Einstein said, "... the point is to understand."

Stay inspired my friends !!

Brave New AI World

 

“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”

-- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley --

Generative AI (GenAI) has become increasingly popular in recent years, but its adoption by businesses comes with a degree of ethical risk. Organizations must prioritize the responsible use of GenAI by ensuring it is accurate, safe, honest, empowering, and sustainable.

One of the primary concerns with GenAI is its potential misuse for crafting convincing phishing emails, generating disinformation through deepfake videos, and spreading misinformation via authentic-looking social media posts, posing a new set of challenges and risks in the realm of cybersecurity.

Through GenAI, attackers may generate new and complex types of malware, phishing schemes, and other cyber dangers that can avoid conventional protection measures, leading to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational risks.

To mitigate these risks, organizations need to be mindful of the ethical implications and take necessary steps to reduce risks. Specifically, they need to use zero or first-party data, keep data fresh and well-labeled, ensure there’s a human in the loop, test and re-test, and get feedback.

Corporate leaders, academics, policymakers, and countless others are looking for ways to harness GenAI technology, which has the potential to transform the way we learn, work, and more.

In conclusion, while GenAI has the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work, it is essential to be aware of its potential risks and take necessary precautions to ensure its responsible use.

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Yes, the image and words above were GenAI created. The assembled words of a software  program makes good points but it certainly does not "sound" like my writing.  Yet it provides a glimpse into the world of artificial intelligence that is quite varied in capability and what is real AI versus pretenders to the technology. 

I wrote a piece about artificial intelligence in college nearly 40 years ago.  It did not get published so you can imagine it did not meet the better academic standards for a paper. 

But in it, I wrote of the benefits AI could have for us and the dangers it will create. One can only look to social media and the good it has given us.  We need to acknowledge that with the good, social media has also come with new costs to us as humans.  

The same will be true for GenAI.

And nearly 40 years later, my thoughts from that paper remain the same; "Artificial Intelligence will be a great technology that can benefit all of humankind, but we must not allow AI to become humankind."

Stay inspired my friends!

• Baxter, K., & Schlesinger, Y. (2023, June 6). Managing the Risks of Generative AI. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/06/managing-the-risks-of-generative-ai 
• Saha, S., & Chakraborty, S. (2023). Impacts and Risk of Generative AI Technology on Cyber Defense. arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.13033.
• Forbes Technology Council. (2023, April 19). Exploring The Security Risks Of Generative AI. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/04/19/exploring-the-security-risks-of-generative-ai/

The Grander Things in Life

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.”

— Frank Lloyd Wright —

So here we are, a couple of days past the Thanksgiving holiday. All our kids and most all the grandkids were here on the farm. They are gone and the quiet rural landscape consumes the air.

Oh yes, we bought a 27-acre farm in 2022 in the later days of the Covid pandemic. My work travel had been cut completely, remote work was possible and so we did it.  Kind of a Beverly Hillbillies song in reverse one could suppose. It is probably more like the Green Acres theme, although different from the song lyrics, my wife was over the top excited to make the move

For me, moving onto a farm is not something I thought would come full circle after growing up on a farm in Nebraska.  This farm boy from Nebraska is now a farm owner in Georgia. Some goats, a dog and renting our pastures to a neighbor for cattle and donkeys consumes my non-work days. 

We love every moment of it for sure. 

But today I am sitting with the dog, a cool and windy sun filled autumn day with a view of Yonah Mountain off in the distance.  Life here is a far distance from the trouble and turmoil in the world. 

The calm reminds me that we are blessed with all that we have. Family, health and moments of gratitude to be enjoyed when possible. 

I wish the same for each of you. 

I wish that you are able to take a few moments from time to time and enjoy the small things in life that add up to this wondrous thing we call life.  It truly is beautiful if you let it be.

Stay inspired my friends.

Why Now

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca  (Roman Statesman 5 BC - 65 AD)

February 7, 2021 to November 22, 2022 is a culmination of 653 days.  There is nothing particularly significant about that number.  Although in some quarters of belief, the number 653 signifies a time for people to begin listening to each other. It is telling us to treat people nicely.  And while working with others, not to be the kind of person who throws words that can hurt and are irreversible. 

Call it just my mind giving me a nudge to write something.  Maybe it was the recent mid-term elections, or a potential slide back to reason by the electorate or possibly the warnings signs of retribution that some have already expressed in political quarters.

The use of social media has greatly influenced or given rise to the loudest of the extreme left and right.  In doing so, it has created a bit of laziness in the rest of us.  If I lean left or lean right, it is much too easy to give into the noise created by the much further left or right.  The result is a widening of our ability to have reasonable conversations with each other.  It results in yelling, in exaggerating, or mean-spirited vitriol and further division.

The other trend is the lock social media has on us as adults, on our children and on our attention spans.  Look around the room to see how many are looking at their phone while sitting next to others at dinner or watching a show on television; streaming a show to be more exact.  How many kids are on their tablet in the same fashion many of us were sitting in front of a television watching Captain Kangaroo?

Maybe you have noticed while watching a show the trend to even shorter (although same number of) commercials. The fifteen second "Tik-Tok-Twitter-ish" length because our attention spans are decreasing.   See how we watch and get hooked on the increasingly non-meaningful, cult of celebrity, or "somebody-did-somebody-wrong" social media posts.  

What are we doing to ourselves?

I do feel there are many good things we can take from the internet, social media and our age of information. It can be a great tool for learning, with access to an expansive amount of information.  It gives us access to thousands of libraries filled with books, thousands of museums filled with art and history, and so much more.

But it does require we work at it.  

When I read people getting worked up over what books, history or other information is being taught, my thought is that yes, there should be diversity in our books and our history and our art.  Which means it requires work to explore both sides of an issue or lesson.  

Yet the same folks will become very single minded in their choice of social media input, hearing only one side, not working to try and view both sides of an issue or lesson. Don't block or quit following; listen and try to understand. The easy way for most is to ban the book, exclude the history or listen to the noisiest on the internet.

And where does all of this lead us?  Where does it lead me?  

It takes me down a path of trying to at least understand both sides, to listen more and listen longer before deciding.  For us, my hope is that we begin to narrow the gaping hole in our conversations.  

The impact of Covid-19 had many different types of results, but it also made it easier for us to pull away from each other.  It created the conditions perfect for impersonal connection of social media.  The term social media almost seems like an oxymoron as it does not feel very social.  It gave us the "person behind the steering wheel in traffic" another outlet to express their self perfection and rage.

Yes, it was a perfect storm of possibilities that helped create our divide, but a perfect storm of intent on our part can help narrow that divide.   If we step back a moment, maybe put the smart device down, a new bridge will begin to develop between each other. 

Stay inspired my friends!