I am sure that most of my readers are not as uninformed as I am, but I truly do not understand what artificial intelligence is. I am hoping that my 2-year-old great-grandson does not yet know about it, but you can be sure that all of my grandchildren, except perhaps for some of the more intense Torah learning group, would be able to explain it to me easily. Yet, “easily” is in their minds. It’s the way they frequently explain something to me on the computer, which comes so matter of factly to them but might take me two or three days to digest … if I ever do. I know today in the news there was a headline about Sam Altman moving from OpenAI to Microsoft, then possibly back to OpenAI, and from AI and now it seems like he might be moving back to Microsoft. Honestly, that is probably as much as I understand about this situation.
I know this is nothing like what it really is (I think), but it reminds me of the laugh we used to frequently have about going to a lecture and finding the speaker extraordinarily boring while others would voice their impressions of the brilliance of the very same speaker. We looked at each other, realizing that what connoted brilliance for most of these people was that the speaker used words that we knew for a fact they did not understand—therefore he was brilliant.
Has anyone ever realized that sometimes the most simple people, the ones who live their lives in a quiet fashion without flaunting wealth, knowledge, dollars, etc, are able to be more accepting of their lives than those who never have a free second to spend time with family and are always attending meetings and keep their phones close to their bodies and beds in order to not miss a single text or call??
Who is better off? I myself am jealous of those who sit at a table in a restaurant with a friend, even if it is for a coffee, without ever looking at their phones during their time together. I admit that I have become guilty of checking each beep. Is there really anything that is that important that can’t wait until quality time with someone you care about is over? How many times do we drive in the car with a friend when they “must” take a phone call from a son or daughter who they have already spoken with five times that same day? How many times are you speaking with someone on the telephone when they must take a call and put you on hold because the other call might be important? How important could it be? Remember the time (not all of you will), prior to our cell phone carrying lives, when we spoke with no one during the day? There was even a time before answering machines existed that messages could not even be left on our simple phones. Now everything is urgent and immediate. In my case I would probably feel bored if I didn’t have messages to look at frequently during the day. Just how vital is it that DSW is having a 20% off shoe sale or that Wegman’s is having a special on farm fresh eggs?
What does all of this have to do with artificial intelligence? Most would say nothing, but for me it just continually reminds me of the way the world is changing, some of it for the good and some parts of it have taken away the warm fuzzy touch of times past. Does that make sense?
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
