AI AI its off to work we go AI AiAi.

We sit on the cusp of an AI revolution, and the explosive development of ChatGPT and its ilk have finally

woken the media to the creeping presence of AI driven tools in everyday life. For a very long time AI was like controlled Nuclear Fusion, progress was just around the corner.

Nuclear Fusion has yet to become commercially viable, but AI is now sucking in money as if the word "bubble" never existed.

So perhaps a few thoughts here. 

AI is not one thing there are many different AI methods out there. They are behind recommender systems, speech recognition, autonomous driving, smart speakers and so forth.

Word is probably the most commonly used program which uses AI, without most people being aware of it.

AI challenges our ideas of putting together ethical frameworks for use. 

A framework which supports Transparency and explainability, and the right to be removed from the model, along the lines of European GDPR legislation, 

Has nothing to say about the thought of one million two inch long autonomous drones equipped with movement recognition and munitions, being shipped to an enemy port to enforce a curfew for a week.

Dystopias abound.

On the other hand the potential to use pattern recognition to synthesize new drugs or medicines, or the Idea of a mental pattern recognition pacemaker, which could intercept a seizure and close it down, is tempting.

So far, all the proposals for education I've seen have been very conventional, but perhaps a future deep learning algorithm could examine the practice of many teachers, and identify teachable moments, and work out whats the best way of maximising learning.

I've been teaching AI for the past two years, and first encountered it in 1982-3. During that time I have been privileged to encounter many humans who's mental landscapes are very different in the way they are wired or in their ability to interact with others. Many of these encounters have been in therapeutic settings.

Studying AI has given me insights into how many different ways of thinking there are, and into just how many ways humans differ from mental models.

This blog is called thoughts in transit, and I put it down as just that a location for ideas which are still travelling and which have not yet come together.

One final thought. In trying to understand the coming AI technological revolution, the closest model I found in existing technology is electricity.

Something who's ubiquity we take for granted which permeate's almost every aspect of our world.