The Friday Thing #782
Ziggy - photo by Brian Smale, makeup by Jenny Verador

The Friday Thing #782

Coming to you from London this week. Briefly.

The Friday Thing #782 is all about AI. Back in late 2022, ChatGPT broke cover and since then I have been mesmerized by it – and the coverage it’s generating in media and tech circles. Thirty ish years ago at university, I first heard talk of artificial intelligence in one of my computer programming classes. I remember it quite vividly – even the room I was sat in at the big library on Loughborough University’s campus. Of course, it wasn’t really AI back then, it was more “expert systems” but I was intrigued nonetheless. And then the AI winters came along. And then a few years ago, I got the chance to work with lots of bright minds at Microsoft who were working on AI and became intrigued again. And now we have ChatGPT as the promise from thirty years ago is becoming reality. If you have not played with this thing, you really ought to – it’s remarkable. And slightly scary and slightly addictive.

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A friend sent me a link to a video over the weekend that captured (for me) the awe, wonder and trepidation about this next phase of AI that is coming. The video, shot in 1999 is of David Bowie, interviewed for BBC’s Newsnight program and one of the topics is the Internet. The prescience from Bowie is astonishing and frankly I could listen to him talk all day (more on that in a moment), but if you watch the clip from around 9:10 mins in, it’s hard not to be impressed. And then think about replacing every time he says the Internet with AI and that brings you to the present.??

I watched it a few times and then got back to my reading for the evening. In one of the pieces I read, I came across an app in the iOS Appstore called “Historical Figures” – an AI powered chatbot that allows you to talk with, well, historical figures. I fired it up and naturally started to chat with David Bowie about the Internet and AI. And then I chatted with Anthony Bourdain for some restaurant recommendations, and then Zaha Hadid about architecture. I finished up and sat back to consider the many ways this type of tool could be used – for education, business, research, fun and more.?

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There is a Cambrian explosion coming with this next phase of AI and while I am clear on the perils, I am at heart a tech optimist and have not been more excited about technology in well, thirty plus years. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

That all I have this week. Off to listen to some Bowie.

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Happy Friday, everyone.

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- Steve

Brian Smale

Commercial & Editorial Photographer

1 年

Nice photo! Is that AI? :-)

回复

I get the Cambrian reference. ??

回复
Philipp Humm

Unleash The Storyteller Within You | 2x Bestselling Author, Speaker & Coach | TEDx

2 年

Love these conversation, Steve Clayton. Glad to hear that Bowie is excited about the future of the internet & AI :D

回复

That Bowie video was new to me. Felt like he was alive again for a few minutes. Thanks for bringing him back from the dead—a great way to start 2023. (And agree that his internet predictions were pitch perfect.) Listening to Low now…

Brant Hollenkamp

Culture builder. Transformation advisor.

2 年

Thanks for sharing the article and insights. As I read this article, I can only hear in my mind, “Ground control to Major Tom.” Bowie was a visionary.

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