Do these ominous headlines make you want to throw your laptop out the window? Whether you realize it or not, most of us probably use AI to get something done or make decisions many times each day. So whether you’re terrified of this sneaky technology, excited about it, or just curious, it pays to know a bit about it.
Personally, I fall into the cautiously excited and curious category. I’ve read all the doomsday and pie-in-the-sky predictions, as well as everything in between, so I have a feel for what the experts expect. I know that AI helps me drive my car, pick my favorite movies on Netflix, give Siri orders on my iPhone, find the right Amazon product, determine my fare on Uber, and decide if I qualify for a new credit card.
That’s all certainly helpful, but what I wanted to do was interact with one of these mysterious AI bots. And after a conversation with my engineer brother-in-law Jim, I discovered the easiest way to do this was with Google’s chat-based AI called “Bard.”
Say what you want about digital behemoth Google, but the geeks working there know how to make things user-friendly. Because they’ve designed Bard to be chat-based it takes essentially no upfront prep; just type in a prompt and it responds with an answer. And don’t confuse these answers with Google’s traditional search engine that only provides a list of websites. Prepare to be amazed.
I had great fun playing around for an hour asking questions like:
- How did Richard Nixon like rock ’n’ roll?
- What was Carl Sagan’s favorite ice cream?
- Can you write a funny limerick about horse racing?
There once was a horse named Sue,
Whose mane was a comical hue.
She’d gallop so fast,
She’d outrun a blast,
And leave jockeys in stitches, it’s true.
After crawling out of the rabbit hole, I decided to get serious. And since I’m a blogger, I decided to start there.
I asked Bard:
How do I write an introduction paragraph for a short blog post about AI? Bard responded:
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming our world, from the way we work and play to the way we interact with each other and the environment around us. This powerful technology is already being used in a wide range of applications, from self-driving cars to medical diagnosis, and its potential impact is only just beginning to be realized. In this blog post, we will explore some of the key trends in AI development and discuss the opportunities and challenges that AI presents for the future.”
One of my biggest stumbling blocks when writing blog posts is coming up with ideas for a catchy intro. After seeing this paragraph I’m thinking Oooohhh! this could help.
For a real-world example: our most recent post was about the Gamcheon Village in Busan, South Korea. I asked Bard:
How would you describe Gamcheon Village in Busan? Bard said:
“Gamcheon Culture Village is a colorful and charming village located in the Saha-gu district of Busan, South Korea. It is often referred to as the “Machu Picchu of Korea” due to its hilly topography and winding alleyways. The village is known for its vibrant murals, unique architecture, and stunning views of the surrounding city and ocean.”
This is the introductory paragraph that I wrote for the blog post (before I learned about Bard):
Picture a colorful jumble of house-sized, children’s building blocks randomly stacked up the steep sides of a V-shaped valley, and you have a mental picture of Busan, Korea’s Gamcheon Village. Located in a picturesque valley in the mountainous outskirts of Busan this unique neighborhood has a fun, artsy vibe, and is one of the city’s cultural hubs and most popular tourist destinations.
You can decide which one is best, but I think we all can agree that AI is a powerful technology, that even in its infancy, can be helpful. However, like all new tech it’s not perfect by any means, and given its potential uses (and abuses) there must be some very serious oversight.
It’s not a panacea, nor is it going to end the world. But it’s here to stay so I’d encourage everyone to do a bit of research to learn what it is and where it’s going in the future. Also, if you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and play around with Bard. You’ll be truly amazed … I promise.
For those that want to take a deeper dive into the hows, whys and whens of artificial intelligence try this website.
Happy Trails,
James & Terri
P.S. Bard suggested the title for this blog post.
Photo Credits: 1. Andy Kelly 2. Eschenzweig 3. Ecole polytechnique
GALLIVANCE 
He’s a clever chap, that Bard. I can certainly see how it would make you lazy in respect of writing blogs, but then again, I use Google for most of my fact finding where once I would have dug around in books for the information. We can’t go backwards, can we, nor mostly want to?
“We can’t go backwards:” very well put Jo. This was my motivation for wanting to learn more about AI. Like you, I use Google constantly – particularly when I’m putting together blog posts. For me, Bard will be another resource for info and ideas. It’s also great fun to play with. 🙂 ~James
🤗🩵
ah, interesting…
Beth, from a technological point, it’s a great time to be alive, eh? ~James
Indeed
I have been too lazy to delve into the subject. Perhaps Bard would help me. On the other hand, numerous experiences going way back to 1964 made me skeptical about everything I read in the newspapers [more than ever on the Internet] and see on TV. I try to do my own “fact check.” Bard makes me think it might be more difficult than ever to find truth.
Ray, I listened to a series of podcasts on AI, which is what got me interested. The idea behind AI is relatively simple: computers “learn” by being fed huge amounts of info of all sorts, and then they make decisions based on that data. Of course, in reality it’s incredibly more complex than that. And you bring up one of the dark underbelly issues: what happens when the computer gets it wrong? And as when dealing with humans, it’s always good to fact check as best you can. ~James
I’m curious but wary.
Peggy, I suspect that most people feel exactly as you do about AI. But as Jo says in another comment, “we can’t go backwards,” so we’re all going to have to somehow come to terms with AI in our lives. ~James
I wonder if using Bard for blog posts (with the topic AI, for example) would produce similar titles and content throughout the web…
Recently, quite a few of my translation jobs are related to improving Bard and other AI technologies for Google. So, that was the first time I came across “him”, which made this post of you extra interesting.
Liesbet, I find this topic fascinating, and your translation job brings up another facet that I hadn’t really thought about. Obviously, a higher variety of inputs improves the output, but the whole “going rogue” and unpredictability aspects are what really make the technology mysterious. Also, I can’t help but see the parallels between how human children learn language and how wrong they get it sometimes. And BTW, what are your translation jobs for Google? ~ James
I recently had someone who wanted to pay me a pittance for AI-generated posts on our blog. Is this what the world is coming to? Yes, they may be factually correct, well dictated – but isn’t there enough content on the internet that is generic and devoid of “experiences”, which is the end is what travel is about?
I personally think it’s sad that this is where we’re headed…
I suspected this post would elicit a few strong opinions, and I’m sure there are lots of folks who share your thoughts. From the little that I know, text AI falls into informational vs. creative. For me personally, AI’s future use will be as a sophisticated info gathering tool – sort of like a google search on steroids. However, when it gets into the creative side there’s going to be many issues. I just read that a number of popular authors (John Grisham, et al) have a class-action lawsuit pending because their work was uploaded to the language modules without their permission. So in theory a bot could generate fictional stories for publication. It will be all about oversight and regulations, which are essentially non-existent now. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here. ~James
I’m with Peggy (curious but wary) but also with you and Jo, who note that we can’t go backwards (even when we wish we could in some areas, in my opinion!). I just hope we can harness all these new technologies for good and avoid the very scary and negative repercussions that are out there.
Lexie, once you get beyond the click-bait, alarmist headlines, it’s exactly as you say: how to harness the good and avoid the bad. As a semi-geek, the more I read and play around with AI, the more excited I get. However, I get concerned at the same time knowing there are people out there who are much smarter than me who want to use it to mislead and trick. In that respect, being well informed is being well prepared, which is all we can do. ~James
Of all the advances we’ve made in technology, I think AI may have the greatest impact. Great promise, yes. And great danger. I always think the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. And while I am excited of its potential in so many ways, from medicine to weather prediction, I’m also reminded that the military is busy figuring out ways to use it. –Curt
I’m totally with you Curt. And you can bet there’s a room full of hackers somewhere trying to figure out the latest AI-based scams. One real problem I see is oversight and regulation. Can we depend on slow-moving governments as a watchdog, or trust the industry to police itself? I don’t have the answer, but I don’t think either of these will work effectively. Ultimately, there’s only so much regulation that can be done, and for the rest we have to protect our own interests. ~James
When it comes to the arts, whether writing or another discipline, it seems to me that AI is primarily about the product rather than the process, even though it’s the process which gives much of the power to humanly-produced art. A small example: I just posted an entry that I first drafted in 2009, with a different title. There are drafts from every year since — well over a hundred — until it finally came ‘right’ this year. I could have asked AI to produce an essay, received it in minutes, and avoided all that work on unacceptable drafts. Of course, I’d also have missed the challenge and enjoyment the process provided, and the final product wouldn’t have been such an expression of my life experiences and their meaning. There’s quite a difference between the truth ‘about’ something and the truth ‘of’ something, but fine distinctions aren’t in favor these days, and even if they were, I’m not sure AI will be capable of making them — or of true creativity.
Grumpgrumpgrump….
Linda, thanks for the thoughtful, heartfelt comment. As we’ve said, comments are the lifeblood of our blog, and it’s a pleasure to get one that’s considered and astute.
Like you, our blog is a creative outlet for us, and for many reasons, the process of writing posts is just as rewarding as the finished product. We both enjoy research so when it comes to our blog and AI, it will be used as a sophisticated info gathering tool – sort of like a google search on steroids.
AI has made great strides in a relatively short time, but given the potential of the technology it promises to be a big part of everyone’s life for the foreseeable future. So we’ll learn what we can, and dovetail it into our daily lives. ~James
Like any other technology, whether AI will bring more benefits to mankind or not really depends on who use it and how it is utilized. There will always be people with malicious intentions. That’s why it is important for us to understand the pros and cons of AI so we can equip ourselves with the right tools to protect us from any negative consequences of this rapidly changing technology. In other words, we have to educate ourselves. Personally, I’m more on the cautious side when it comes to AI, but I’m also realistic in the sense of there is no way to go backward.
Bama, it seems that your attitude about AI is perfectly rational and realistic. As you accurately point out, there are always going to be bad actors looking for a way to lie, cheat, and steal their way to success, and the use of AI will be no different. There’s an effort by governments to oversee and regulate the use of AI, but you hit the nail on the head when you said: “Equip ourselves with the right tools to protect us from any negative consequences of this rapidly changing technology.”
And as with other tech in our lives, our plan is to learn what we need about its use so we can use it advantageously. It will certainly be interesting to see how AI moves forward, and how its uses and abuses are monitored and regulated. ~James
For whatever it’s worth, I like yours much better because it’s a personal point of view rather than information you could look up in an Encyclopedia (if one still existed!)
Thanks for that Marilyn. I guess it’s the difference between AI’s facts about a place vs. a human feeling for a place. And I suspect this human feeling is what the AI business is trying to achieve. Interesting stuff though. ~James
I feel very cautious about it. Not about whether or not it can help us (clearly it can), but about the myriad opportunities for fraud. For example the opening para about Gamcheon. How much will be written by AI and then claimed to be by a person as their original work? BTW I much prefer your own para – it reads as if it’s written by a person and not a machine; it has life in it.
Interesting article.
Alison
Alison, your comment about AI work passed off as human is timely. Just yesterday I read a story about the CEO at the magazine “Sports Illustrated” being fired for an “embarrassing debacle in which Sports Illustrated was caught publishing stories with fake author names and profile photos generated by artificial intelligence.” This is just one of those technology trade-offs that we’ll have to get accustomed to and be wary of. Fraud has gone on since we lived in caves, and AI will be no different.
But having said that, I’m a curious person with an interest in how technology works, and I can’t help but be amazed by AI. It’s not the holy grail, but it would be fun to see 10 years into the future to see how AI is impacting our daily lives. ~James
I too an amazed by it. I follow an AI artist on insta whose work is quite extraordinary.
You’re right to take a level headed approach. I remember the genesis of computer graphics and how that was going to get rid of graphic artists. Basically it’s a new tool which can be used creatively, to save time, as a shortcut, or (inevitably) to deceive. I’ll go with the humans for originality, but we all use some kind of machinery.
Very well said Shane. Like any new technology there are going to be problems as it matures, as well as bad actors taking advantage to deceive people. And your point about computers is a good one. Remember the wild predictions of armageddon when Y2K happened? We certainly shouldn’t blindly accept any new tech without some thought and oversight, but I’d hate to see us miss out on the obvious usefulness just because of techno-phobia. ~James
Technology always has been mind-blowing. These days, it is mind-blowing at an increasingly high level. Let’s hope that AI’s positives will far outweigh its negatives. Neil S.
Neil, I think that our resistance to and concerns about new technology is natural; rooted in fear of the unknown. But for me, the key to getting over some of this resistance is learning what I can about the tech which should help me prepare for the impacts, both positive and negative. Also, this will enable me to make my own considered decisions rather than knee-jerk. ~James
Okay, man.
Sigh. I saw AI for Co-pilot demo last year at my former employer before I retired last Dec. I already have AI blog post ready to fly out as a dove in a month or so. My career has been in libraries and digital records info. management so I have an opinion. Plus about the value(?) of AI for content creation.
Jean, I’m totally intrigued about the idea of AI and its potential. Like all new tech, it will have some hiccups before it’s fully adapted, and it will be used by shady characters for deception. However, I think it’s amazing tech and I look forward to watching how it develops. ~James
In the time since you’ve published this, we’ve had more than a year for AI to sink its teeth into the world.
Somewhat similarly to your views, I’ve always approached it with a level of curiosity and optimism (perhaps that’s the influence of my dad who introduced me the world of Science Fiction).
One thing I’ve noticed, as it’s used by so many for copy in marketing is, that for all of the incredible store of data and knowledge it has to draw from, it’s starting to sound very generic.
By that I mean, once we lose the individual voices who blog for example, it’s quite easy to see the same artificially engineered prose.
It also seems to suffer from being to proud, in that rather than admit its lack of understanding, it does tend to feel in the blanks with fiction!
Then there’s moments like this, which probably should scare me a little more…
https://futurism.com/chatgpt-man-hospital
Thanks as always for the great conversation prompt!
Safe travels,
Chris
Chris, for me AI is just another tool. I don’t believe all the hype, nor do I believe the doomsday pictures that get painted so frequently. Like any tool, it must be applied in the right circumstances, and its misuse will cause problems. I find that I use it primarily as an internet search engine, and in my experience it far excels any other search engine. Usually, it quickly locates and gathers info and links to articles which saves me lots of time. Of course, the results have to be checked over for gross errors, but in general, it works for me. It will be interesting to see the status of AI and its many uses in 10 years. ~James
Hello Terri and James
I was wondering how you were doing and could not find your blog in my feed. However, when I was making a post for a blogger who passed away – I found your site on an old post!
and woo hoo – was able to make it here and check in.
I know this post is old, from 2023, but it is a good post and it sounds like you were early in the use of AI
hope 2025 had been a good year for you and wishing you a great day
Yvette
Yvette, thanks for checking in. As you’ve observed, it’s been a while since our last post, but fortunately this isn’t a result of any health issues or other problems in our lives. After more than a decade of blogging and over 500 posts it’s getting harder to come up with fresh ideas, and of course, like most people our priorities change over time.
As for AI, I’m a cautious believer that recognizes its inevitable presence in all our lives going forward. At this point, we both primarily use it as a search engine on steroids which continues to amaze us, and provide the odd spark of creative inspiration.
I hope that all is going well for you, and we appreciate your continuing to follow our blog. All the best for the holidays and the upcoming new year. ~James