I’m here to defend to two emerging technologies that everyone hates: Self-driving vehicles and AI.
So far I am happy with our one-month free trial of Tesla’s self-driving option. Yes, I know you’ve heard stories about cars crashing out of control in California. But so many cases have been reckless handling of the vehicle. In one fatal case, the driver sat in the backseat. Another was playing a game on his phone during the crash.
We were already happy with our Tesla 3, which we got five years ago. Sure, the automatic windshield wipers don’t go on when they should. We worry about running out of fuel. But it accelerates rapidly, requires little maintenance and doesn’t use air-polluting gasoline.
Now, with autopilot, the car drives itself while I just rest my hands lightly on the steering wheel. I tried it first on a Sunday morning in South Boston: a lot safer than the Washington beltway at rush hour!
I set the car’s GPS for home, and sure enough: the car waited patiently for the little traffic to pass and made a left turn entering the highway all by itself, even managing the turn signals. Spooky! I screamed with excitement. While I just sat in the driver’s seat, the car came to a halt at two stoplights and a stop sign. It started up again when all was clear.
After driving south on U.S. 501, It made a right turn as scheduled on Cluster Springs Road, traveling exactly at the speed limit. It even turned into the lane from the road to the house and stopped at the end of the driveway. Then the only trouble came on the way to the store later. It had trouble with the parking lot and the stopped at the dumpster. I guess it didn’t know where the entrance was. The car is supposed to find a parking place and park the car for you, but I haven’t figured that out yet.
I felt that the self-driver is safer than I am. When I accidentally ran a stop sign on Edmunds Road 10 years ago, I hit another vehicle. I don’t think the self-driver would have allowed that. But am I going to spend $100 or more per month for this feature? Don’t think so!
Now let’s look at AI (artificial intelligence.) Yes, there are a lot of problems: It steals content from newspapers like this one. Its ability to spread misinformation is worrisome. It makes lots of mistakes. (On Tuesday April 2, Chat GPT repeatedly insisted it was Sunday April 3, for example.) I think solutions are coming, as in the music industry, which was chaotic at the time of Napster but settled down to iTunes and Spotify.
AI can’t be beat for quickly responding to simple questions with plausible answers. I often pick up my phone and ask Bing’s co-pilot questions like “Who were the 10 best quarterbacks of all time?” “What time does the Food Lion open in Clarksville?” “Does the TV I am shopping for contain Bluetooth?”
You can ask questions about your washer/dryer, your mobile phone or your lawn mower without opening an owner’s manual. It is so much easier than going to Siri or Google and having to select a website that may or may not have what you want. It can summarize long documents. I can insert my column into Co-Pilot and have it quickly edit out my typos.
Math teachers didn’t like pocket calculators. Blacksmiths probably didn’t like automobiles. Seamstresses hated textile machines. Telegraph operators didn’t like the telephone. Movie studios were frightened of TV.
Technology snafus make better copy. As a media person myself, I know how news works. You can appeal to old-fashioned readers and get more clicks with horror stories about self-driving accidents and AI mistakes. Success isn’t as interesting.
I don’t want to be an old stick-in-the-mud who hates everything new. I don’t listen to conversations that start with, “In my day…” I never respected people who stuck with their typewriters and refused to switch to a computer. Did you know anyone who ever switched back?
Like it or not, both technologies are inevitably here. Rather than complain about them, I think we should make use of them and embrace their potential.
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