AI just taking flight

As with any new technology, air flight was a tremendous leap, with several other smaller leaps after it. The first was reaching about 90 mph in the 1940s through propellers. The jet age of the 1950s was a big leap to about 500 mph, then 600 mph in the 1960s. In 1975, the Concorde pushed commercial air travel to 1,350 mph, though the planes were said to have been able to travel 1,711 mph. The Concorde was retired after 2003, in part because of high maintenance costs, lowered interest because of a fatal crash and diminished air travel after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011. Yet it never really took off because, while it was hours faster across the Atlantic, its sonic boom caused complaints, the ticket prices were quite high and they were difficult to maintain. The fastest piloted plane ever built was the X-15, a research aircraft that flew to the edge of space at 4,520 mph in 1967. At that speed, it could go around the world in about five hours, enough time for a nice in-flight movie and a nap.

There is a big difference between 6.8 mph and 4,520 mph but there is a reason why we settled on around 575 mph for the top speed of today’s commercial jets. It’s more fuel efficient and the amount of time saved by flying faster was nominal.

While we herald our ability to make all sorts of technical advancements, we are still flying around the Earth at around the same speed we were 65 years ago.

You may wonder, why the interest in all this flyboy?

Artificial intelligence. There is this idea that it’s the next big thing and could change everything. Or it could be like air travel that has one big advancement, then it’s little advancements from there. What are some other examples? The iPhone, still basically the same. The internet, still basically the same. The laptop computer, still basically the same though smaller and faster. Self-driving cars, happening now, will change a bit, but will still basically be the same. I’m actually pretty amazed there are actual self-driving cars right now. It’s almost sorcery, and it feels like we are just taking it for granted.

So while we fret about the new technology that promises to come with AI, I think the big advancement, ChatGPT, already happened. Its large language model to understand and generate humanlike text was pretty huge, and a significant advancement from Siri and simple Google searches. But for now, AI is a supercharged version of a search function that can write better than many people (a slight indictment of our educational system, I might add). That makes it dangerous and subject to much discussion especially in academic settings where cheating can be a problem and critical thinking is waning.

There is also significant concern when it comes to socialization through AI, and its role in ensuring people looking for connection are getting it in appropriate ways and not through a computer which is inherently unhealthy but also teeters on danger when the communication is problematic. This is a problem for us all to consider and solve.

In the work world, we can expect it to assist in offloading busy work like research and organizing. Certainly manufacturing will benefit as automation will become more realistic and expansive. And we will be able to find some efficiencies.

Probably the likeliest next step will be more personalization and automation of our online experience specifically to sell us stuff in a variety of ways.

Robots taking over though? We are far from this, and its path will be exceedingly rocky. Have you seen a robot fold laundry? Walk? A first step will be helping our Roombas find dander, but that is nowhere near SkyNet.

There is potential, promise and problems with which to contend when it comes to AI. But for now, the big race is mainly about who will have the infrastructure in place to monetize it first; though, it reminds me of the race to link the world with fiber optic cables back in the day.

Perhaps AI is just taking flight, but too many things that already exist are being assigned to its descriptor. AI videos are just supercharged computer-generated imagery, ChatGPT is just supercharged internet searches and manufacturing robots are just supercharged automation. We may soon experience the equivalence of the jet age, but don’t be surprised if it takes a few decades … and maybe even longer.