Android and Chill
One of the web's longest-running tech columns, Android and Chill is your weekly discussion about Android, Google, and all things tech.
Once upon a time, there was this thing called AI. It began as a bit of code that could combine information from a source to manipulate it to do useful things. As it grew, people writing this type of code realized that it had the potential to do even more useful things with it, so dedicated computers were designed and built to program the code to run faster. go
Then, someone – call him Jeff – decided that everything needed more AI. Jeff may be drunk or high that day. Jeff pitched his idea to the “right” person, and AI went from something useful to something stupid. And you can't get away from it.
I know I'm biased. After all, I have to look at tech every day to make a living because my lifelong dream of being a professional slacker isn't paying my bills. I also know that I am not alone and that many people are sick and tired. AI This And AI that Every time they look at the screen.
I am also not a Luddite or an old man shouting at the clouds. At least not this time. There are some valid concerns about AI and how tech has taken over every aspect of our lives. Dammit, Jeff, this is all your fault.
AI will make us lazy and stupid if we let it.
AI is great at doing things like monitoring apps that use up a lot of your phone's battery. AI that makes it easy to fix a photo you take so that it looks like grandpa is awake or a kid isn't digging in the mud is fine and easy. AI actively trying to teach you something might be cool… but it's not.
This is because AI isn't intelligent (regardless of what the label on the tin says) and can't really learn anything. AI is, at every level, just a computer program that spits out the information it was programmed to spit out. Google has given us ample evidence of the mess that is AI search (and admits it), and anyone who asks ChatGPT to dry the towels knows there's no critical thinking involved. Is. Is it really such a good idea to put it in every new phone or laptop?
It's kind of funny, and laughable at what a multi-billion dollar company is willing to spit on. Those programming uber-nerd types make the same mistakes we do because they're people. Humans are not perfect. But those mistakes aren't the problem.
They arise when the errors are plausible and correct enough to make us believe them. There is a lot of leaning on AI. to plagiarize Copying what someone else has already said. Because people aren't perfect and can make mistakes, sometimes the AI is going to be wrong, but this Voices As it is correct. Unless we can fact-check everything that some conversational AI bot tells us, we won't know.
Are you willing to take the time to fact-check everything Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini tells you? Nope what. I don't either. If I'm doing that, I might skip the bot and check it myself. Relying on a bot that may or may not be accurate is cheap, and companies want us to do more of it.
Don't even get me started on people who deliberately use AI to spread bad information. Every time a politician or stupid “action group” uses AI to create a picture where people have 11 fingers on three arms and try to remove it as evidence of something, a cat. The child dies. They are bad, bad people, and the AI helps them become worse and more evil.
So what can we do about it?
Unless you're willing to throw everything you own that's on the screen, you're going to be overpowered by the stupid AI. Eventually, AI must improve, but no one is going to slow down and wait for it. Doing the right thing isn't as profitable as touting how AI will “disrupt” certain industries, and Company X will be at the forefront. AI is a tech buzzword that isn't going away anytime soon.
You have all the tools you need to fight the madness. You just have to use them. Think critically. Realize that there is a high probability that everything the AI tells you is wrong. Know that the Facebook group your uncle is in will be more than willing to share doctored AI-generated images. Know that now, more than ever, what you see is a lie, and you'll soon learn how to sort fact from fiction.
It is not up to us to fix this mess. I hope that the companies that have put this pressure on us are willing to do so, but we can only depend on them to operate profitably.
In the meantime, feel free to think less of every tech company that wants to be this bad.