Friday, March 24, 2023

AI and age

All this talk of ChatGPT and the various chatbots makes me feel very old. I have a sense that it may well fundamentally change how my profession operates and that eager beavers are out there trying to make that happen, but I don't really care. I don't want to engage with it. I have a full calendar already.

Fundamentally I am concerned that even if it can come up with refined thoughts or text embodying them, is that what I really want? Do I want to produce the thing, or do I want personally to develop the capacity to produce the thing so that, next time I am challenged, I have the mental muscle memory of having done so?

Truly old people or counseled to keep their brains flowing by doing sudoku and other challenging puzzles and whatnot to stave off the decline of their faculties. What happens if we generally outsource our thinking to bots? I already know personally that I'm less nimble in finding my way around simply by virtue of growing dependent on Google Maps, and I'm not alone. What if that is the precedent here? 

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