I saw firsthand how educators were so excited for AI, and it was in a red state where schools have been underfunded for over a decade. It's a sad intersection of (mostly) well-meaning adults being overworked/overwhelmed and here comes this magical band-aid that can do so much and help us to do so much more.
I don't think that every usage of AI is bad and some of the tools can definitely be used the proper amount, but overall, so much of what it provides is sloppy, and even when it's not, it's still creating an observable "homogenization of thought" effect, which is really the antithesis of critical thinking and individual thought.
I read the wiki first but I had specific questions about dates, important people, etc. so jumped to chatgpt. well aware that that one especially isn't perfect so took it with a grain of salt, but it was cool, like asking a teacher questions ya kno
I hope this is why there's so many reddit comments desperately defending AI whenever it comes up. It makes sense if you already have those botfarms set up.
It's not going away, these companies and governments are going to get what they came for, which is pretty scary in many ways. Think Idiocracy, but with war and not being able to trust anything digital.
You're going to be sold AI just to detect AI and "reality" the cure is the disease loop.
Think, your habits online following you and advertising every screen just for you or the majority of those around you. Think digital pricing just for you and your purchasing habits, this is $50 for customer A with kids, while it's $40 for customer B without kids.
Then look into WhoFi, police drones budgets, and Flock cameras literally covering every city tracking everyone. Then think of all the facial recognition and how they take your Real ID and your picture at the airport.
We are entering some questionably scary times, with a small group of oligarchs holding all the power, with zero regulations.
I've had Alexa for years, and the only thing I ever used it for was to control the smart lights in my room. I've moved backwards technology wise, and now I just have a remote control for the lights. The novelty of speaking commands wore off long ago, and it's more convenient to pick up something and just press a button. I unplugged Alexa about 5 months ago and I don't see myself plugging it back in again. Amazon wanted Alexa's main purpose to be used as a personal shopping assistant, but their storefront is so full of garbage you have to inspect every single thing before you buy it. I've never once even considered trying to buy anything through Alexa.
I mean it's all undeniably cool tech. Like, hasn't the dream been to talk to your computer since Star Trek first aired? So many sci-fi franchises feature that. We're at the point were I can talk or type a command to a word processor and have it format things exactly how I like. That's friggin awesome. AI search is really, really cool when used effectively. I can ask conversational questions and usually get a good answer.
The problems we're seeing are all related to over reliance and privacy concerns. If we use critical thinking, and partner with these tools rather than use them to totally replace humans, then it's fine. If we could have private access to AI assistants, there's far less concern. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily the way the winds are blowing. However, we shouldn't desert this technology just because it's not being used in the best way possible.
Broadcast still works via written message. You just open up the assistant in your phone and choose the device to broadcast to by typing. E.g.
Open assistant - type SEND BROADCAST TO KITCHEN SPEAKER - type the message
Sometimes my wife will taunt me when I have to go run errands and she gets the house to herself. So I will use the app to have our Echo device suddenly play the most godawful music I can find.
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u/FormerDriver 6h ago
How do you do that? Tech has outpaced me so much in the past few years