The rise of AI: The good, the bad, and the ugly

AI is a topic on many peoples lips these days. We often hear about it in the news, ads, and even conspiracy theories. There is so much information, and sadly misinformation, flying around that it can be difficult to get the truth about what it really is, what it is capable of, and what it can and cannot do. While at first it may summon images of Skynet from Terminator or some other end of world scenario, rest assured that for now it is far from a super intelligent, sentient, human killing machine.

So lets start off simple, what is AI? Well AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, simply put its a computer program designed to be able to learn, react, and to some extent, alter itself for various purposes. One of the most prominent AI's right now is ChatGPT. This program is a chatbot trained on information current as of Sept. 2022 (so it is a bit out of date.) It is able to have what appears to be a conversation with a user by reading the user input, interpreting what the user is saying, and responding in a human-like way. While it does not feel emotions or have "thoughts" it is still impressive given the fact that you can ask it an actual question and get an actual answer back. Think of it like a search engine on steroids, rather than simply taking key words from the search and matching that to keywords on websites it actually reads the sentences and determines, fairly accurately in most cases, what the user is looking for and gives a direct response with that information. For instance you can ask it "How do I reverse sear a steak?" and instead of getting 100 pages of websites about cooking steaks it will reply: "Reverse searing is a method of cooking steak that involves slow-cooking the steak first and then finishing it with a quick sear to develop a flavorful crust. Here's how to reverse sear a steak:

Ingredients:

• Steak (ribeye, filet mignon, or another favorite cut)

• Salt

• Pepper

• Olive oil or another high smoke point oil

• Optional: Herbs (rosemary, thyme, garlic) for flavor

Equipment:

• Oven-safe meat thermometer

• Oven

• Grill or cast-iron skillet

Instructions:

1. Preparation:
   

   • Remove the steak from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cooking. This helps the steak cook evenly.

   • Season the steak generously with salt and pepper on both sides. You can also add herbs or garlic at this stage for extra flavor.

1. Low and Slow Cooking:
   

   • Preheat your oven to a low temperature, usually around 225°F (110°C).

   • Place the seasoned steak on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet. Elevating the steak allows air to circulate around it and helps it cook more evenly.

   • Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the steak. Make sure it doesn't touch bone or the pan.

   • Roast the steak in the oven until it reaches your desired internal temperature. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes but can vary depending on the thickness of the steak and your desired doneness. Here are some approximate internal temperatures:

     • Rare: 120-125°F (49-52°C)

     • Medium Rare: 130-135°F (54-57°C)

     • Medium: 140-145°F (60-63°C)

     • Medium Well: 150-155°F (66-68°C)

     • Well Done: 160°F (71°C) and above

1. Searing:
   

   • Once the steak reaches about 10-15°F (5-8°C) below your desired final temperature, remove it from the oven. For example, if you want a medium-rare steak at 135°F, take it out at around 120-125°F.

   • While the steak is resting, preheat a grill or a cast-iron skillet over high heat. You want it to be very hot.

   • If using a grill, you can brush the steak with a little olive oil or another high smoke point oil before placing it on the grill grates.

   • If using a cast-iron skillet, add a small amount of oil to the pan and heat it until it's almost smoking.

   • Sear the steak for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until you achieve a beautiful crust. You can also sear the edges if desired.

1. Resting and Serving:
   

   • Remove the steak from the heat and let it rest for a few minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute within the meat.

   • Slice and serve your perfectly cooked reverse-seared steak. Enjoy!

Remember that the exact cooking times may vary depending on your oven and the thickness of the steak. It's essential to use a meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature and ensure your steak is cooked to your desired level of doneness." The above is the actual response from ChatGPT I got when asking this question. So as you can see this can make looking for information much faster and more efficient! While that is a really cool way to use AI it is not the only way. You may have heard of Tesla and their self driving cars, this is another AI program designed to handle complex sensory data from cameras and "radar like" devices in order to detect the road, other cars, pedestrians, road conditions etc. to effectively and safely operate the vehicle with little to no human intervention necessary. There is even an AI in development to assist doctors in diagnosing medical conditions by collecting information from the doctor and assisting with possible diagnosis as well as other tests to perform.

Ultimately AI, as it stands, is being used and develop to increase efficiency in day to life, from AI that helps Amazon collect and package products, to software that assists commercial operations run more smoothly. AI is really just a complex program that is designed for a specific purpose and is able to take in data and alter its responses based on the data being fed to it. Where as in the past a software engineer would have to manually update software to react to new trends, AI allows the software to keep itself relevant based on data that it is "trained" on.

So, what does this mean to you? Well, the answer is, it depends. While you may hear AI will take your job, chances are that is not the case. AI will likely make it easier to do your job better, but it can also help you with gathering information more effectively, purchase products more efficiently and ensure that your utilities and health care operate at peak efficiency. Ultimately, AI is another tool to make everything work better.

Now that we have gone over what it is and how it works, lets dig deeper into the nuts and bolts of it. Ultimately AI is only as good as the data it is trained on. Garbage in garbage out is a common phrase in professional IT circles and it means if you use bad information you will get bad data back out. An example of this is that if you trained an AI by allowing to just search google for a month and collect data, it would likely come back with a LOT of garbage because it would hit many websites with outdated or flat our false information, and as it is not a true sentient being, it is unable to tell the difference in true and false information unless manually told or programmed to do so.

What about that burning question that frequently comes from movies and television? Whether you watch The Terminator, The Matrix, Lost In Space, or a host of other shows and movies, AI is often portrayed in entertainment as something that somehow brings the end of civilization as we know it. So can this happen? Well, probably not, and here's why. AI in reality and AI in entertainment are two different things. Current AI technology is not a true artificial intelligence in the same sense as we see in the movies. It is not capable of "growing" past its bounds, or teaching itself to become a superhuman intelligence that decides the best thing for humanity is annihilation. While this could happen in the future, there are already many computer experts working diligently to put in fail safes and standards to prevent this from ever becoming reality.

In conclusion, AI is a tool that will make life easier for many, allow for new and better products and technology, and as long its trained on good data, make information even easier to access than it already is. Things like software that learns how a kid learns and helps them to understand the curriculum and learn better or software the tells you exactly what is wrong with your car and how to fix it are not outside the realm of possibility, or even a distant future perspective but quite literally things that could be just around the corner. As with any emerging technology, only time will tell just how far it will take us, but so far the future with AI is looking bright.