I Didn't Want to Learn AI, But I Did Anyway

Based on fear of the unknown mostly, I decided I wanted nothing to do with Artificial Intelligence. It’s name, “Artificial,” sounded predatory.

I pictured AI demanding that I surrender my ability to think, meaning, of course, that I would completely lose that capability and be forced to rely on Artificial Intelligence for everything. My parents sacrificed for the liberal arts education that taught me how to think, and I’m not about to turn my back on it.

I intended to stick with Actual Intelligence, thank you very much.

But if anywhere in the recesses of my mind I thought I could get away with ignoring AI, I was only deluding myself.

I lived a job life mostly isolated from AI. Here and there someone used it, but more as a gee-whiz-look-what-I-just-did novelty than a tool. The organization had no plans that I knew of to incorporate its use as part of a strategic plan to enhance insights, create constructive collaboration among departments, or increase productivity.

I’m no longer at that job.

I realized that if I didn’t pry my closed mind open enough to learn at least the basics of AI, I would be left in the dust. I had learned technology before. I’m a member of the generation that migrated from pencil and paper to computers.

I learned VisiCalc back in the day. I used a PC when I had to know DOS to get it to do anything. I wrote macros in Lotus 1-2-3 that performed an accounting consolidation. I learned to figure things out. I enjoy figuring things out.

So, I read a book, I’d say the equivalent of Artificial Intelligence 101. I have emerged from the unknown.

I’m a curious and cautious convert. I use ChatGPT every day but I know, even in my most vivid imagination, that I’m not having a conversation with a sentient being. ChatGPT feeds me information. I parse it. For the time being it’s a dynamic I can work with and learn from.