The Last Mile

When I'm super excited about something and people around me aren't, I know it's because I haven't demonstrated what I'm jumping up and down about well enough to make sense. And then today, a quick chat with web designer extraordinaire Chlo? Forbes-Kindlen gave me the term I might be able to use to help a little bit. (And this is only ONE way to talk about it.) This is a post about AI, specifically ChatGPT. But give me a bit to warm you up to it. (This is a slightly longer post for me, but so that it pays off better for your understanding.)

The Last Mile

I used to work for the telephone company, handling calls to the centralized repair bureau. After thousands of calls and so many talks with dispatchers and linemen (I guess there's a new term for that now, but they used to always be linemen), one thing was true: almost all the problems with people's phones (at least residential lines) happened in the "last mile."

Thereafter, I saw that come up over and over, in so many contexts. Someone cooks amazing food, but the server is grumpy or forgetful. A company drops off your package that traveled thousands of miles, only to leave it outside on the steps in the rain with no protection. You write amazing software, but make it so hard to install that no one wants it.

I was cooking up some chicken thighs today - a LOT of them. 14. (For meal prep.) And I was marveling that the butcher did amazing work on 11 out of the 14. On 3 of them, they left a whole lot of fat. Not a big deal. I own a knife. But I thought, so my experience of these 14 pieces could be that I might get grumpy that all the pieces weren't trimmed the same. 11 out of 14 were perfect. Think about that.

Detail and Attention, and Often SERVICE are the Key

Another way to see the last mile is to think of packaging. And I mean that term in lots of ways. But think about that new iPhone. It comes in a gorgeous box. The startup process is warm and friendly, and every year, it gets easier and easier. I bought a travel bag the other day, and inside was a card promising to honor its commitment to me for life (if I registered it), and welcoming me to the family. Kitschy, but I liked the touch.

In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey comes right out and says that the book isn't exactly original. It's filled to the brim with other people's ideas packaged into a new sequence. Covey delivered the book as a last mile and made MILLIONS (hundreds of?) simply by making a much better product than the originals, or at least better selling.

And so here we are with the last mile of AI for some people, and for quite a while still.

Even if YOU Understand it, So Many Others Won't, and Will Choose NOT To

That's the key part. They'll choose not to understand it. And why should they? The world is full of great people who can do things for us. I pay this guy Andrew to assemble IKEA and stuff for me. I paid him to hang a TV on my wall. I don't want to learn that skill. So, with that in mind, here's what I'm getting at when it comes to the "Last Mile."

Chlo? mentioned that she had ChatGPT help her with recipes for Christmas cookies. And I thought immediately about a few weeks ago when I asked it to make me a week long meal plan for the Mediterranean diet but also cost effective. It spat out something I've paid nutrition coaches plenty of money to make in the past. And I got it for free.

But here's the last mile part: there are some reasons and values that only a smart human can add to this, and here are a few of them.

• A nutritionist would consider a few details I might have forgotten to throw into ChatGPT, maybe something like I need more protein than what was recommended, etc.
• ChatGPT might not know that I eat mostly plant-based, so it might try to pair meat with every meal, even though there's great protein in tons of other sources.
• ChatGPT can translate words into other languages, but a native speaker will know some "gotchas" I might not find.

I could go on and on, but these are examples. The other day, I asked ChatGPT to make me a list of ten business phrases and questions one might hear around a software company. The list came out great. I made one small tweak. Then I asked it to translate that to Spanish. It was good enough. A few words I knew I couldn't pronounce, so I asked for phonetic spellings. Done.

What's the difference between me doing all that work and then selling an ebook called, "Business Phrases You Really Can Use - in Spanish?" None. There's no difference. Except lots of people won't sit in front of ChatGPT and do all that work. Plenty more people will pick up an inexpensive ebook about business phrases in another language.

Did you just see the last mile clearly?

Chris...