It's even worse than it appears..
Saturday July 12, 2025; 9:45 AM EDT
Today's editorial about AI#
  • AI chatbots don't think and they don't decide. #
  • They can give you a way to approach a problem, but it's only one way, and it may not be the best way, and it depends on it actually understanding the problem, which is something it does a good simulation of, but can't do. It absolutely cannot think, come up with a strategy, or even make a decision based on probabilities. It might, in the future, get some of these abilities, given how far they've come, but no one knows, it hasn't happened yet. #
  • The reports that say that using a chatbot to write code is actually less efficient than doing it yourself, are totally believable based on two years experience with using it as a development tool. And I can't believe that whatever it comes up with covers enough use-cases to be reliable. It might create a demo of something to present to a board of directors (they're famous for being deceived by demos, btw), but I doubt if it's as usable as something created by someone with an idea of how to craft usable software. #
  • This might sound like a writer defending their art against the bots, but the difference is I've actually invested the time to learn about this. My counterparts among writers have not done that. And that's not a mistake my chatbot friend would make. It does a lot of research, it just doesn't know what to do with the result, that's up to you. #
  • So if you want to know the roles humans will play, at least for now, that's it. Think and decide. #
  • And those are hard and take many years to learn how to do for a human. And we could use some help there btw, look at the awful decisions we're making these days. They just fired all the people at the State Dept who work on climate change, for example. #
  • Have a nice day one and all.#
  • PS: Another thing humans can do that apparently AI bots can't is change their mind. #
  • PPS: I asked ChatGPT if it had any comments on this editorial, and it did, of course. I should try saying something wrong to it and see what it says. I did come up with one, and it gave me an answer even though no answer is possible. #

© copyright 1994-2025 Dave Winer.

Last update: Saturday July 12, 2025; 12:45 PM EDT.

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