Perplexity.AI: Rapid Research

Today's Concept: "Perplexity.AI: Rapid Research"

Do you love to research and learn rapidly? I do.

This is The Way.

Hold on tight. There are a couple of surprises in this newsletter. Learning does not always take us where we think we are going, but the ride is not to be forgotten.

Use Perplexity instead of Google Search. Use it instead of taking a class. Use it instead of watching YouTube at double speed.

Look, those other ways are great to learn too. But Perplexity is best for pursuing a line of thinking on your own. You can go as fast as you want. Very fast. This is the big advantage.

YouTube is great for stellar teachers and for visuals. But videos take time.

Taking classes with a Cohort and Discord channel for dialogue are extremely valuable as well. But again, they take time ... with other people interjecting what they are thinking about. Sometimes good. Sometimes not.

Google Search ... Well now, it's outdated. And it's full of Ads. Perplexity has no ads.

More important, Perplexity is at the cutting edge of "Learning" and "Research." And it has sourcing and citations from current websites. And it's got a "Copilot."

When you start asking questions, the Copilot will suggest the next set of logical questions you may ask. This is where the power is.

You can shift gears as fast as you want.

Quickly scan the text, then take the next question from the Copilot or come up with one on your own.

Within minutes you'll have a whole new set of sources and citations to go along with all of your new knowledge and you can choose what you want to focus on and take away with you.

Person of The Day

Ferdinand Porsche is my Person of The Day, and he's an interesting one.

Some like him. Some do not. Those who do not point out that he was a Nazi. Those who do point out that he created Volkswagen and Porsche.

He's my Person of The Day because of what he achieved with innovation and technology. He is responsible not only for the classic automobile brands listed above, but also for the first "gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle" which was in production from 1900 -1905.

His story is also, you could say, cautionary, and points out the value of research and choices we make. I did not know of his entire past when I chose him for today's newsletter. I learned of his story, and his associations, from using Perplexity and Wikipedia. I decided to keep him as my Person of The Day because it lets me talk about something important: How we use our abilities.

As I learn more about AI each day, I think over how its power will be exploited.

It turns out that Ferdinand Porsche was the son of Anna and Anton Porsche, and was born in Bohemia, an area that is today part of the Czech Republic. His talents and intelligence were noted at an early age.

Adolf Hitler thought Czech's were subhuman, but wanted Ferdinand's talents to used in Germany and urged Ferdinand to become a naturalized German citizen. He also invited him to join the SS. Because of these strong solicitations, and his reception of them, his cooperation, he built not only the Volkswagen Beetle, later known in the USA at the "Love Bug," but he also built German Tanks for WWII.

How's that for a complicated story.

There are AI experts today who will be pressured to build dangerous things. And others will build beautiful things. AI is not a field we can fail to pay attention to.

Quote of The Day

One quote about the risks of AI is from Elon Musk, who said, "If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea."

Another quote is from Eliezer Yudkowsky, who said, "By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it." (See his TED Talk on AI Alignment here.)

Real World

This subject of safety in AI, and regulation of AI, in both development and adoption is so important that companies are being founded to focus on it.

So, again, as part of my newsletter development today with Perplexity I looked into the leaders in the field. Some of the leading companies you may already know, like KPMG and Juniper Networks. But I want to introduce you to Credo AI, a company one of my teachers introduced me to today:

"Credo AI is on a mission to empower enterprises to responsibly build, adopt, procure, and use AI at scale. Credo AI’s cutting-edge AI governance platform automates AI oversight and risk management while enabling regulatory compliance to emerging global standards like the EU AI Act, NIST, and ISO. Credo AI keeps humans in control of AI for better business and society."

Tomorrow's Concept: ElevenLabs.io - Voice Creation

Tomorrow we are talking about Voice Creations with ElevenLabs.

See you tomorrow!

Matt