I am trying to get a grasp on AI. I believe it will have a profoundly impactful effect on my future, so I need to understand it and learn how to utilize it to my advantage. I suspect it will be a lifelong interest.

I am discovering amazing new ways it is being used. They range from life-saving to life-destroying. I see it as being like the harnessing of fire in caveman days.

I came across an example of AI use by a Canadian company, Samdesk. In short, they utilize AI to predict where various emergencies may occur. This includes addressing forest fires, outbreaks of contagious diseases, and political unrest.

How could AI do this?

A very simplistic answer is they look at huge, and I mean massive, databases of various sets of information, pulling together anything related to the possible emergency. In a generic example, let’s say they are checking out political unrest. Now remember, they are trying to identify it BEFORE it happens so people can be better prepared to protect themselves, politicians can better assign first responders, military and police. The AI engine could look at social media posts for early signs of planning, inspiring and prodding others towards social unrest. Perhaps a request goes out for picket sign holders.

Here is a real-life example.

Several years ago, DoorDash, the home delivery service, asked Samdesk for help. They had lost 3-4 drivers every year to violent crimes in the United States. When they send a driver to an active situation such as a fire or shooting situation, DoorDash could send a message to the driver requesting them “not to complete this order. You could be heading into harm’s way. Get to safety immediately.”

Samdesk has been working with DoorDash for almost 3 years, and the company hasn’t lost any drivers since using this technology.

Fear is often incubated when ignorance abounds. This is fertile ground. I resist the temptation to consider the worst-case scenario first. When someone is late showing up for a meeting, I could slip into thinking that he could be hurt, in hospital or worse, in a ditch somewhere.

I take a deep breath and encourage a more balanced set of options. Perhaps he is just late due to a flat tire, traffic, weather, or forgetfulness.

This is the driver behind my education about AI. A part of that education process involves using AI in very low-level, non-critical ways. A simple example involved putting in the ingredients on a package of a spice blend and then asking AI to create a recipe based on these ingredients. It did that in a few seconds. I made a follow-up request, more to test the feature than anything, to convert all the measurements of volume and weight into grams. I prefer cooking with those measurements as they are more accurate. A few seconds later, I printed out my recipe.

Please give this a bit of a think.

I am curious about your thoughts. Please comment below or send me an email with your bit of a think.

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

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glenn.walmsley@icloud.com