Last month, I was fortunate to spend a couple weeks with my mom in the mountains of Colorado. The autumn colors were stunning, and I’ll be sharing images on Instagram in the weeks ahead. But what I want to write about today is an incident that reinforced my intention to not trust AI—Artificial Intelligence.
One day, Mom and I took a hike up the western side of Hoosier Pass. We’ve taken this hike numerous times over the years. It goes along an old forest service road which has been heavily eroded over the years. There are glorious views of the mountains, and it takes hikers up above the tree line, over 12,000 feet in elevation. (Yes, I did have some trouble breathing; that’s 10,000 feet more than where I live in Arizona!)
On all the prior times I’ve taken that hike, I’ve never seen a motorized vehicle. This time, we saw two dirt bikes, two jeeps, and a sedan. The dirt bikes were doing okay, but the vehicles encountered significant difficulties. The sedan had somehow made its way past the deep crosscut section pictured above. As we passed them, they tried, then backed off from, each direction of the Y where the road splits after that point. (We understand it makes a loop, but we’ve never made the complete circle.)
I couldn’t believe these vehicles were even trying—until we stopped to talk with two men in one of the jeeps (they had made it the farthest). They were self-proclaimed “city boys” from Houston, and the AI on their phones had told them this road was passable for most vehicles! I could believe it—as I’ve been wary of AI results I’ve seen on my computer in recent weeks. But I hadn’t really considered the consequences of trusting it to this degree.
These Houstonians also didn’t realize that AI would abandon them partway through the journey. You see, by the time they got to the point where we met them, there was no cell service at all. So there they were, creeping along a rutted and rocky dirt road, not knowing what they were facing. They asked if there was a place ahead where they could turn around, and we recalled that there had been, at least a couple years ago…. They pressed on, and we don’t know how they fared on the rest of their journey, but I imagine it will be quite the story to tell back in the big city!
So, don’t trust AI, or at least do further research to confirm its results. As with any new technology, the early years can be a bumpy ride—literally, in this case!
Do you have any good AI stories to share?
Shirin-
Unfortunately, I see AI as an inevitability. It’s already here and we’re going to have to learn how to make it work FOR us individually. It’s on our iPhone/computers no matter what and no, I don’t trust it either but God gave us common sense/knowledge to use which so many people of today don’t seem to understand. They put their trust into computers and those associated systems to their detriment. Urban people especially have gotten lost in the ‘desert’ repeatedly trusting Google Maps or some other technology like the old Garman because they are not paying attention. And I think that’s the answer. We have to use this new technology responsibly and with forethought or we’ll get lost in the ‘desert’ too. It seems to me that each new technological innovation that man invented, it came with distrust until we as humans, got a handle on it to use it for our benefit. But I agree with you, AI is a big one and it could change/cause many major problems for years to come because of irresponsible people and lack of oversight/regulations. As with so much of life nowadays, we’ll see…
Prayers and blessings to you and Henry,
Nila
Thank you, Nila, for sharing your perspective on AI. I do agree that we need to pay attention—as with all things. I guess we learn through our mistakes, but unfortunately, many of those mistakes are likely to cause pain for others, not just for the mistake-makers…. May we learn to look and listen more carefully—and prayerfully!
Peace,
Shirin
Wow! That’s quite a story. I wonder if AI is responsible for all the typographical errors we’re seeing in newspapers nowadays. People just hit the tab button, trusting that what gets printed is what they wanted to say. Example: There’s a picture of Kamala Harris in yesterday’s Daily Star, smiling and standing in front of a couple of American flags. The caption says: “Vice President Kamala Harris, scene here at a campaign stop…”. “scene here”, not “seen here”! I think this must be an example of people assuming that machines know more than we do. Big mistake!
Thanks for sharing your own AI story, Aston. Yes, I can well imagine folks thinking machines know more…and that’s absolutely not true. We still need the human touch…or we may cease to be human ourselves.
Peace,
Shirin