Mediations #21: On AI vs. Intellect
I keep thinking about how AI is changing my life and where I should be cautious. Although I’m not against using AI to improve my life, my hobbies, and my work, I’m hesitant to apply it in some other areas, mostly gathering information and learning. Considering the history, I’m unsure whether we gain an advantage.
If we look back, the TV changed the world in a way nobody could have imagined. People trusted whatever they heard on TV (which they still do today) as it became a single source of information for many (and still is). After decades, only the Internet could dethrone TV.
The Internet has become a platform where people learn almost everything. Unlike TV, which was initially controlled by governments and later by the wealthy, the Internet’s decentralized approach allowed the public to shape its own knowledge base.
Topping up the Internet, AI has arrived. Although the AI can be adjusted to be slightly deterministic and less creative, we don’t know where and how the information it provides is shaped or whether it’s true. Yet, many people receive information and use it without filtering; they accept it as the truth.
What started with TVs progressed to a more dangerous state with each step. With each invention, we lost our intellect. With TV, we believed and trusted in people who were on TV to guide us to the truth. That didn’t go well, and TV became the ultimate vehicle for disinformation. The Internet topped that up as it introduced social connections—we can have a conversation with others, unlike TV. That introduced echo chambers. When any idea looked popular, it was considered the truth. This disadvantage is leveraged by many, including manipulators and politicians.
With AI, another unprecedented change in society has begun, in which we rely on information produced by an algorithm whose results are volatile. We don’t know its dataset and how it forms those “thoughts.” It uses data scraped from the Internet and creatively generates ideas. Along with it, it multiplies the problems of the Internet.
I’m not here to bring pessimism to your life about AI or warn you against it. Yet, similar to how we criticize the TV and the Internet, we must keep our critical judgment when using AI. When we seek information from any AI tool, we must evaluate the result, distill it to extract the truth, and ensure that it’s not a hallucination of the model. Otherwise, we’ll learn precise but completely inaccurate information as the truth. That’s the real danger.
We must become ignorant
Of what we’ve been taught,
and be, instead, bewildered.
— Rumi
Good to Great
I share max three things I found interesting, great, cool, etc., from good to better to great.
One of the reasons I rarely watch movies or read fiction is that most of them have a similar and predictable plot. I know that structured storytelling is compelling and generates a good income for the storyteller. Yet, I prefer listening to stories from people, even though their storytelling might be subpar—a good piece by Eliane Glaser on this topic.
I must admit, I admire Patrick Collison as a leader. He had an interview with Jony Ive, an iconic character. His questions were good, but what stood out was Jony’s answers, thoughts, approaches, and you name it, whatever he said. Watch this.
At around age 30, I began to wonder about my impact on my younger brother, my only sibling. I recalled various moments from our youth. I pondered how my actions shaped him. To this day, I still don’t know if I influenced him to switch his profession not once, not twice, but three times and move to Australia. After reading this, I began wondering again.
“We can’t choose our families, but we can choose the stories we tell ourselves about them.”
Recently, I thought/wrote about
I wanted to finish a blog article this week. However, my job took up a lot of my time this week, and I couldn’t finish it. I had to make a decision: either exercise or finish the article. So, I chose exercising. Hence, nothing to add here this week. 🤷🏼
Until next time,
Candost
P.S. Building a product from an idea is one thing; manufacturing is another.