Two Often Overlooked AI Realities
Photos by Cliff Notes and cottonbro studio clues
During the time we were moving to Atlanta, a friend of mine read several of my newsletters about AI and asked, “Why don’t you like AI?” I believe the new generation of AI creates great opportunities to make our lives better and more productive. The outcomes will only be better if we remember two realities about AI.
AI Provides Summaries
AI generates summaries. Each model (ChatGPT, CoPilot, Claude, etc.) interprets our queries and then searches its LLM to generate results. The quality of the response depends on two things: the precision of the question and the content in its models. The response is a summary of the information it reviewed.
AI results can help us understand, but they are not a substitute for understanding. Watching Gregory Peck portray Atticus Finch in the great 1962 movie or reading the Cliff Notes is not a substitute for reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
AI Gives Clues
AI gives us clues. While they may be very good clues, that is all they are.
Recently, an X user, utilizing AI, was able to track pizza deliveries to the Pentagon using publicly available information. Very quickly, a correlation was spotted. Pizza deliveries went up just before major events. AI predicted an event, but it couldn't tell us the details of the event. One of the best depictions of this type of signal intelligence was portrayed in the movie Midway. This scene shows how captured data can reveal part of the story while leaving out important elements. Gordon Prang’s book, At Dawn We Slept, details the many occasions where intelligence clues were missed or mishandled leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II.
AI can see patterns across large datasets much faster than we can. Sometimes they are false echoes. We need to look at multiple patterns from different platforms and make sense of them. We have to decide which ones to discard and assign degrees of confidence to the rest. This collection of patterns can be thought of as circles in a Venn diagram. The circles are important. The overlap is vital.
To get the most value, we must learn how to use AI well.
A Quick Rant
I believe that most of the ads touting AI are encouraging people to use the tools in all the wrong ways. Here are some examples.
The Girl in the Hats – A young woman who looks to be fresh out of school is walking down the aisle, and her coworkers dump their work on her. A boler hat represents each task. She sits down at her computer, and AI does all the work, and the hats disappear.
The Research Scientist – A young research scientist uses AI to make sense of the research document she is writing. This happens in the lab while she is examining samples. This implies the document is an early draft, or maybe even just a chronological list of thoughts that occur to her during the lab work. We immediately jump to a management presentation.
I like this use case.
The Quiz Show – A student asks AI to create a quiz show based on her study notes to prepare for an astronomy exam. This is a modern-day equivalent of flashcards.
Related Articles
Pentagon Pizza Index: The theory that surging pizza orders signal global crises | Fast Company
Midway - Station HYPO | YouTube
You sound like ChatGPT | The Verge
AI is changing the world faster than most realize | Axios
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's lawyers fined for AI-generated court filing | USA Today
Five surprising facts about AI chatbots that can help you make better use of them | The Conversation
“Data Science Is a Dead Career” — The Truth Behind the Trend No One Wants to Say Out Loud | Medium
A Funny Little Test — Can You Tell Which Of These 12 Images Are AI? | Medium
Chips and Salsa: Snack-sized news and posts
I prefer notebooks to apps. I pay better attention and remember more when I write. I like sturdy covers and high-quality paper that prevents ink from bleeding through. Field Notes is a good brand. Moleskin is another.
How Field Notes went from side project to cult notebook | Fast Company
Here is a list of human behaviors that AI cannot replace.
These human capabilities complement AI’s shortcomings | MIT Sloan
Good logos add value. The rest are just there.
A simple shape turned the Coca-Cola logo into a timeless icon | Fast Company
Insights from Ray Dalio
Defending the Value of Money | LinkedIn
How The Economic Machine Works | YouTube
We live in a world of Schrodinger's tariffs.
The paradox of Trump's tariff policy | Axios
Remaining calm in times of chaos or stress is good to a point. I worked with a man who would remain so calm that the people around him thought he didn’t care. We need to remain calm and display a sense of urgency at the same time.
3 tiny behaviors that make you the calmest person in the room | Fast Company
This article takes a technology-first view rather than focusing on outcomes. Improving productivity is important, but sometimes you need to abandon the current model and adopt a completely different approach.
End-to-End Reinvention Unleashes a Technology's Full Potential | BCG
Every word matters. Writing is hard. I would welcome feedback on the quality of my writing.
The Case for Killing “Directionless Verbs” in Your Writing | The Writing Cooperative
I have never been a fan of Agile or Scrum. More often than not, the focus is too limited and fails to consider what happens in the overall process. “For want of a nail…”
The Death of Agile: Why Tech Giants Are Abandoning Scrum and What They Use Instead | Medium
The newest Superman movie appears to be a financial success and is generating interesting commentary on the state of movie-making.
‘Superman: The Movie’ (1978) — A Lesson in What Superhero Movies Don’t Need | Fanfare
Superman: A Miserable Movie | Medium
Basic research leads to innovation, often in unexpected ways. We need to attract the best and brightest from around the world to continue to be the world’s leader in innovation.
Six-Chart Sunday – Research Is Power | Six-Chart Sunday – Research Is Power
I have always believed that understanding science makes religion more powerful. Before the Big Bang, there was nothing. At this moment of creation, there was something infinitely small and dense. From that, everything came. The more we learn, the more amazing the intricate balance becomes.
Science Articles
Kind of Confusing - Is consciousness like jazz or the biology of dolphins? | Aeon
How water based clocks revolutionized the way we measure time | Aeon
Humor
As I get older, these hit closer to home.
10 Far Side Comics About Getting Older That Make Us Laugh Through the Tears | Screen Rant
Mainstream Indulgence
Culinary fear
Quotes
“Every choice is a brushstroke. No single stroke creates a masterpiece, but eventually the portrait emerges.”
- Shane Parrish
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
- Beverly Sills
“The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.”
- Tom Waits
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I write about leadership in business and life. I am a certified M&A Specialist and Leadership coach. My perspectives are based on my 40+ year career working with leaders from around the world at over 100 companies.
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You can order The Leader With A Thousand Faces on my website’s Recommended Reading Page. This page also has links to purchase the books discussed in this and previous newsletters.
