Sporadic Thoughts: Situationally Smart
The new wave of machine learning is strikingly similar to us
It’s astonishing how artificial intelligence has woven through almost every aspect of our lives—it might even be all aspects by the time this post sees the digital light of day.
But it’s amusing to note the ways our robot friends are similar to us, too. For example, they are situationally smart.
There’s no denying their brilliant abilities in a growing number of areas. I had Claude put together a business plan for one small component of my growing portfolio of digital activities, and in less than a minute I had a seven-page document in my hands that looked like someone with an MBA had assembled it.
Because Claude essentially has an MBA.
And yet, minutes later, it could not recall something we’d covered earlier that morning, and even contradicted itself. No big deal. One line of correction and it was off and running again. In some respects, it’s brilliant. In others, it needs a little hand-holding.
Just Like Us
If that sounds familiar, it’s because WE are situationally smart, too.
There are some things you do, either professionally or just as a hobby/side hustle, where you might be in the top 1%. You could practically do it half-asleep or while juggling three tennis balls.
Then you turn around and bungle another task, one that could be your neighbor’s superpower.
We’re brilliant about some things and complete morons about others. I wouldn’t label myself a polymath, but I do have decent skills spread across several disciplines.
Yet I can’t figure out an Excel spreadsheet to save my ass. I’ve tried. It’s in my blind spot. I’ve watched my wife crochet and knit some of the most incredible items of clothing I’ve ever seen, and I’m totally lost just watching her do it. I’m like a dog staring at a fan.
AI is this way. It has remarkable skills that often stagger us with their complexities. And yet my buddy Claude never seems to know what day it is. Seriously. Earlier generations might’ve called it an idiot savant.
Maybe the reason some people are uncomfortable with the explosion of AI is that it’s not only a true disruptor, but in some ways it reminds us of ourselves—galloping through some parts of life while stumbling through others.
And I wonder if this is why the thought of humanoid robots that look too much like us causes such distress. They would close that loop.
We all have skills and blind spots. It’s what makes us human.
And it’s what keeps AI from ascending to the top of Olympus.
For now.
Dom Testa writes fiction and nonfiction, and in 2004 created an AI character named Roc for a YA science fiction series. So he might be a little protective of the concept. And biased.
Find more of Dom’s work here.