The AI inflection Point
Is Singularity the Next Stop or is ChatGPT just a bad psychedelic trip?
Folks this stuff on GenAI (short for generative AI), LLMs and generalized “Artificial Intelligences”, abbreviated AIs, is at the same time wondrous and unsettling. Are we experiencing a an explosive hype-cycle or are we at a true inflection point of ascent that will change the world, that will redefine the way we live our lives? I will bet on the latter. Here are a few reflections on this technology that is filling today’s media, academic and industry literature. Let’s start with an exercise in amusement.
The Psychedelic surprise of generative AI
First, have you noticed how we speak about AI? Have you noticed how we use the plural? Just as in real life we have specialists and subject matter experts for specific disciplines, so too are specialized the the techniques of AI. Each specific AI can be based on advanced computer programs that are trained to perform and assist with domain specific tasks. For example consider a program built and trained to understand mammograms and detect early stage breast cancer. On the other hand, consider programs and models that are trained to write essays about the American Civil War. How about an AI that is capable of writing a fictitious letter to Dante’s Beatrice. Well, that is something we can…
