I just stumbled upon a good way to answer the question "are you afraid of AI?" from folks who are less technically inclined.
Ask them if they consider the daily weather report “artificial intelligence" and if they fear it.
Same thing: a bunch of real world inputs that yield a prediction that may be right or wrong. There may be a tornado - or maybe just cloudy.
Of course, if we place to much reliance on those predictions things can go haywire.
@chockenberry The book 'Boom Town' (my favorite nonfiction book of the past 10 years) has a chapter on a famed Oklahoma weatherman who was just a cheesy TV dude until a devastating tornado hit, and he realized he could actually save lives—him saying one thing or another on TV could mean people stay or go.
So he worked as hard as he could to get good forecasts, and he also honed his image to become 100% likable and trustworthy…
@chockenberry Weather forecasting isn't just a calculation; it's also a job in judgment, in PR, in empathy.
This is the kind of thing you lose if you "automate" forecasts, or if you see them as just "inputs and outputs."
Add that to the AI analogy as well 🙂 This is partly where the "fear" (really, it's more concern and annoyance) of AI comes from.
Craig Hockenberry
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