The other day my car, or should I say the Google app used by my car, summarized my text messages. I pressed “read aloud” and the cheery AI voice didn’t read the group of incoming messages, it summarized the gist of them. Worst of all, it wasn’t even accurate. (As an aside, I love it when people swear in my texts and the robot has to read that aloud, it’s amazing.)
Once I was home, and actually read the messages, they made more sense, and said a fairly different thing. I never asked for this, I don’t really know how to turn it on or off, and it seemed to only do so because the sender sent several in a row (it seems to just read the message when there is one message…for now).
This all made me think of my-love-to-hate internet genre: crowd sourcing information that is just as easy to look up yourself (and looking it up yourself is probably a lot more reliable and quick). And my second least favourite: general overuse of AI in “research”.
I do love the AI summary when I do a quick google search but I also like to have links to actual information, sites and resources. And the slippery slope of being reliant on everyone else doing the thinking for you is a scary idea.
When you try and sell something on Marketplace and the buyer asks what community you live in and then they say “where’s that?” Sounds like a job for Google maps, lady! When perspective clients visit my website, where literally ALL of the info on services, pricing, and the like, are stored but they just take the phone number and text to ask what my prices are. (It was right there. It was a click away and you wouldn’t have to go back and forth with me. You went there for my phone number).
There are Facebook groups I am part of where 17 people will literally ask the same question, when they could have just scrolled down a bit, or read a comment or two for the answer.
There are hiking apps, trail apps, filters and all sorts of glorious ways to find what one is looking for, really quickly and easily, but so many ask vague and generalized questions, rather than search on their own. It’s entertaining but also disturbing.
One time, pre-internet, (or at least pre-world-at-our-fingertips internet) I had an argument with a friend of a friend about Tylenol being Acetaminophen and Advil being Ibuprofen. He was right and I was wrong. But we both totally believed our stance…until I got home and checked a bottle and had to admit that I was the one wrong (I reversed the drug names). Good times! Now we could not have to think, and just plug it into our phones and know right away. (And truly, how many of us actually do Google an argument topic or fact? Ya. All of us.)
I have seen vague comments like “What’s a good hike nearby?” Um, what? Good for who? What distance? What level of difficulty? Elevation? Fitness level? Distance from the city? There are several criteria to consider and my “good” may not be your “good”. “What’s a reasonably priced place to get a cake?” What!? What is “reasonably priced”? ($20? $100?) We all don’t know your budget. “I have a sourdough starter. Now what do I do?” What!? Like, come on…there are a million things, there are steps and tools you need and all sorts of various things that are only learned by doing (failing. trying. reading. testing.) Has thinking, grabbing a book, checking websites, asking experts, or even trying stuff on your own ceased to exist?
Now AI search has made it even easier to limit one’s critical thinking and double checking. The information is out there. It is more accessible than ever before. We have access to all the information but also can’t be bothered to look. But then again, if you “research” why your plant leaves have turned yellow, you will be offered sage advice such as: “It could be over watering or under watering. Or too much sun or not enough sun. Or the room could be too cold or too hot” Thanks! That was just what I assumed and I will continue my plant murder with this helpful knowledge.
Our spelling has gotten worse (if auto correct doesn’t catch it, it must be right). Our attention spans have shrunken. Our ability to distinguish AI videos is getting more and more difficult. Our texts can be summarized (poorly). Our searches can be summarized or just via asking strangers vague questions. I feel like Wall-E and Idiocracy are happening in real time! And I am no better. I scoff at the Facebook group vague questions or people crowd sourcing simple information like store hours, but I check the spelling of far too many words that I actually know how to spell.
I double check a lot of stuff on my little pocket computer, when I would have maybe checked a book in yesteryear. I have horrible memory and attention span now, and I don’t know if it’s peri-menopause or letting Google be my brain. However, I do ask people who know stuff I want to know, about said stuff (not just throw out vague and general questions to the masses). I have never used an AI assistant on purpose. I want to avoid it as long as I can.
But similar to how I can’t comprehend people who have stayed off all social media in this timeline, I fear that it is basically inevitable and what will it all become? I do like social media for many reasons, and I feel it’s necessary in business and our times; but I also greatly despise it and wish I knew how to quit it most days. (But how would I look up a restaurant insta or laugh at memes!)
Hopefully there will be a mass exodus from some platforms. Maybe there will be more who protest the use of AI summaries and not answer stupid questions in groups so that people actually have to check things for themselves. But I doubt it. People seem to like it and the use seems to be more and more.
The algorithms have us pegged, and how handy is it that we do have maps, dictionaries, calculators, metric conversion opportunities, cameras, curated content, and quick ways to seek out businesses, at our fingertips! I just don’t know, man; was it maybe cool when we had to go find the Tylenol bottle to verify that it is in fact Ibuprofen…only to discover that it is actually acetaminophen? (And yes, spell check helped me out on those) What a time to be alive!
Periscopecake 