They should probably change the name. Most people believe AI actually thinks, akin to a human being. It does not, and if it ever will…that ability is years off according to the experts.

No, what AI does is send out queries and assembles an answer from what comes back. So, when you hear about training… These companies are creating a database, as much information as they can, to which these queries can be sent. As for the process of assembling a final answer from what comes back from said queries…this is where you’ll famously hear that even those in the business don’t know exactly how it works.

But the concept of AI sitting there like you or me, thinking about a question, coming up with an answer, that’s not what is going on at all. And you’ll read all this if you study closely, but most people do not. Older people are caught up in AI hysteria, younger people have already embraced AI, and are using it in school to a degree that is both unknown and unfathomable to oldsters.

So, AI has existed for years and years. Those predictions on your iPhone, you know, when the app to use is suggested? That’s based on your previous behavior, the system has learned to predict what you might want. But you might not want what has been proffered.

Anyway, AI is like socialism. In that it’s already here, embedded deep in our society, the only question is whether we want more. Scratch that, whether there will BE more.

Further socialist inroads are probably at the behest of the government. Then again, when most people learn what socialism truly is they are supportive of its present uses, like Social Security, it’s just that the moniker is deceptive, just like with AI.

We want to have AI in our lives, there are many advantages, many of which you’re already using, like in the iPhone suggestions referenced above. Your phone seems to know that you want Safari or Instagram or TikTok or…

But should we be afraid of AI?

Well, how can we be afraid of it if most people don’t know what it is and how it works?

I’m far from an expert, but I follow this subject to a degree, and even I learned stuff from Joanna Stern’s book.

What you’ve got to know about Joanna Stern…

She was a tech reporter at the “Wall Street Journal” who just left her job to start her own business, you can check it all out at: https://thenewthings.com

But the thing about Joanna is…she’s the anti-Kara Swisher. She isn’t in-your-face confrontational, she’s warm and wry and friendly and honest. It’s an interesting combination.

In other words Joanna Stern is likable, I’d say even lovable!

Unlike seemingly every other media celebrity, when interacting online she is nice, she doesn’t have a hair trigger as a result of enduring so much hate, she always comes across like it’s her first time, bringing people together as opposed to creating division.

And her life story is well-known, in that she met her wife on Twitter and they have two kids and…

This book is the story of not only Joanna, but her family experiencing AI.

So a lot of the book is about using AI toys, the robots, the pets… And what we learn is as good as some of them are, they are not quite ready for prime time.

But as you get deeper into the book…

Joanna tries to have an AI relationship. All we hear is about how evil these are, with little information… Joanna is open-minded and her experience will cause you to think.

Even more so regarding AI in education. She returns to her alma mater, Union College, and takes a class and quizzes the students about their use of AI… What we get here is facts as opposed to hysteria, and we need that.

And then there’s her use of a bot she created to do research that obviates the need for the human help she previously employed…

And it’s all written with Joanna’s sense of humor.

Now if you know nothing about AI I’d say this is a must-read, in that it humanizes AI, brings it down to the level of the average person.

If you’re an expert?

Well, you’ll still learn stuff.

But we need more of this, AI use and analysis thereof in today’s society. Too many people view AI like social media, that it’s the devil and should be avoided before it is killed. But you’ve got to experience these platforms before you can render a worthy opinion.

Joanna helps you get there.

Whilst revealing personal information which makes the book almost an autobiography. Talking about her relationship with her high school and college boyfriend Evan, her interaction with Michele and her kids…

So far, this is the only book on this subject written from ground level by a user.

And for that reason it is valuable.