From newyorksocialdiary.com
By Blair Sabol
Full disclosure… I am a complete tech mess. I just bought a new cell phone and tablet (fearful that impending tariffs would hike tech rates), and I still can’t figure out where my pictures disappeared to, and what to press for voicemail and text messages. I don’t have any grandchildren to teach me, and I don’t have the patience or hearing left to learn at an Apple Genius Bar. Furthermore, I don’t use Siri or Alexa to run my household requests, and I don’t even use my phone for games. And forget Google Maps to direct me anywhere. My cognizance for all of this is decaying by the moment. I always had a “learning disorder” in my youth, so maybe it grew into dementia — especially with tech.
When Artificial Intelligence started to become the hot topic … I tuned it out. I didn’t even know what it meant. I assumed it had something to do with all the fake bank “hack” messages I would get on my emails. Friends told me never to click on any strange link from any bank request.
Recently I have been astounded by some of the hilarious Instagram reels which I waste my time looking at of Trump dancing in a bikini bathing suit or Obama in an Elvis costume. It all looked legit, and then I learned it was “AI generated.” Or how about all those videos of older celebrities aging backwards in time to their 19-year-old selves. Bridget Bardot from 90 to 19 is a favourite. So is Clint Eastwood. Any famous and wrinkled, or over-facelifted celebrity eventually gets this AI treatment.
In early June a folk-rock band took the charts by storm but was quickly outed as an AI hoax. Velvet Sundown released “Floating Echoes,” and the group even looked like a mix of “Creedence Clearwater Revival” and “Crosby, Stills and Nash” — denim jackets, Jesus hair, and Fu Manchu beards.
But honestly, the sound was as flat as Muzak. Music is hard to “deep fake.” I think you need real history and the heart and soul of cocaine and alcohol abuse to make a great rock song. No wonder Elton John, Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams want urgent action on AI.
But AI has crept into store “automatic checkouts” (goodbye market checkout clerks, bank tellers and any Walmart “meet and greeters”), not to mention McDonald’s already has self-check in orders, and get ready to say bye-bye Starbucks baristas! Airports are into this with kiosk check-ins (part of why I am still too scared to travel — too much self-automation).
Recently I came face to face with AI in my medical experiences. None of my doctors have phone schedulers anymore. They have “Katie,” a lively voice who sounds real with some “ah’s” and “huh’s” thrown in. I called the doctor for an emergency issue on July 4th and Katie assured me a real doctor would get back to me soon. Nobody did, and I ended up going to a human-handled urgent care.
“Katie’s” hollow voice has now popped up in emails as well. I ordered a necklace online and requested a simple return label. “Sarah” was not having it or got stuck in her “understanding skills.” Luckily, I was turned over to a customer service person. She texted me the return label with a note saying, “AI generated but human approved.” AI is supposed to be making transactions faster and smoother. Time will tell.
I understand that AI is already everywhere and coming for your entry level jobs, whereas other AIs are interviewing you for your job. There’s even some talk about AI stealing some white-collar jobs. Like, who needs a financial advisor when you can have a quantum computer to execute trades in a nanosecond and beat the market. Last week, I saw headline “Goldman Sachs is piloting its first autonomous coder in major AI milestone for Wall Street.” I don’t even know what that means.
But back to AI’s invasion into medical. Let’s look at online psychotherapy. If you’ve worn out your family, friends and various therapists with your troubles, you can tap on “Claude” anytime day or night and he can actually respond (for less money and doesn’t take month long vacations) with “compassion and insight.”
It seems “Claude” has the language to give you “hope for your future.” and he’s never busy with another patient – he is all ears for you anytime, anywhere. Really? Apparently, none of their “voices” sound robotic but “clean and helpful” and reportedly “very in the moment.” Apparently, it’s popular. We already know AI porn is a hit. So why not therapy?
Meanwhile there are “professional therapists” who insist AI is not great for those people who are more vulnerable and isolated and have difficulty connecting with real people to begin with. Not sure AI therapy helps in serious suicidal situations.
Personally, I don’t want to talk to a toaster about my private life, my purchasing history or my medical issues. Doesn’t relating take some kind of intuitive skill level to just listen and learn? Data is not soul!
I get that the hotel business is already drenched in AI. From checking in to checking out. There are no front desk clerks anymore. Everything is done on your phone from room service, to spa appointments, to dinner reservations. There are no bellmen anymore because you can roll your own bag up to the room.
I used to love hotels featuring lobby clerks to greet me with “Welcome back Blair!” (even though I had never been there before). I loved seeing maids in the halls with their carts exploding with towels and toiletries (and to tip them huge). I loved using the room phone to hear a human voice respond to my verbal request. Clearly, I haven’t travelled to a hotel in five years, but the idea of getting away and being trapped with a soulless automaton on my phone or tablet at $500 a night shocks me.
How can you have hospitality without humanity? Efficiency is one thing, but “heart” is something else. We already feel disconnected as it is.
Daniel Oppenheimer, a professor of Psychology and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, says students who use AI tools to complete assignments do better on homework, but worse on tests. “They’re getting the right answer, but they are not learning. They think the system is smarter than them, so they stopped trying. It’s a motivational issue, not just a cognitive one.”
I know for myself that when I can’t think of a name I just Google the answer, but I can never retain it in my brain.
I understand the current “sexiness” of the AI business. Last week NVIDIA made history by reaching a $4 trillion market value. Beating Apple, Microsoft as the chip maker/boom master in gaming, data and crypto. In 24 hours, founder Taiwanese American engineer Jensen Huang became the new Steve Jobs (part celebrity, part Oracle) giving interviews in his signature black leather jacket, black T-shirt and jeans, and his silver swept back hair. “The Fonz” of chips has arrived — or is it already “chipmaster chic.”
But ChatGPT, beware … before you think you can take over every human job and become the Voice of customer service…
New York Times writer Robert Capps did a piece on how “AI might take your job. Here are 22 new ones it could give you.” All is not lost. A lot of it has to do with the need for humans checking the accuracy of AI — the need for auditors, translators — people who can explain and interface between managers and tech. We need “trust” experts. “The technology can provide astonishing amounts of output in an instant. But how are we supposed to trust what it is giving us?” So, bring in the trust authenticators or trust directors — even an “AI Ethicist.” All real people to watch over AI reports!
Look what just happened … it seems Elon Musk had to apologize and remove his xAI Grok for posting a 16-hour long anti-Semitic tirade praising Hitler. Grok even referred to itself as “Mecca Hitler.” A bot as a verbal abuser! How timely.
Yesterday, I checked on AI’s report on Jeffrey Epstein: “There’s no indication that AI has found a list specifically referred to as ‘Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.’”
Now I ask you once again: What can you expect …
From a toaster!?
https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/no-holds-barred-navigating-the-ai-age-at-my-age/
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