Is it ok to trust machines (specifically, ai) more than people to give you useful guidance? We like the convenience and speed of asking Alexa for the weather report, and Google answers to straightforward questions like “What is the population of Summerhill, PA?” We should be more cautious about queries like “Why do Muslims hate Jews?” or “What are the strengths and weaknesses of the US Constitution?” because the responses will reflect perspectives in the source data. So far, so good.
What about “How should I handle this situation with my marriage?” and “How can I stop feeling resentful of my dad’s dementia?” Will people trust an ai more than a person to provide guidance about career choices, business strategy, international diplomacy? These are huge leaps from “What is the weather in Boise?” because they require judgment and wisdom.
I expect ai will be most disruptive short-term (in businesses) for marketing, including copywriting and SEO. It’s rapidly replacing human work in those domains. Any situation which can be represented mathematically (e.g., it fits into a spreadsheet) is prime for algorithms and machine-learning. Generating new text, audio, and video content from prompts will continue to get better – though it’s all derivative of what already exists. Powerful tools, indeed.
That leaves a lot for humans. Including the imagination to prompt an ai.
Reminder to self, you’re welcome to listen: AI cannot change human behavior problems.
