The Parrot That Thinks It’s Picasso
I wonder how best to explain generative AI to someone who has no idea about technology and AI… here’s an attempt:
Generative AI is like a super-smart parrot that repeats what it’s heard and invents new things based on what it’s learned. Imagine you teach the parrot thousands of songs, poems, and recipes. After that, you can ask it to compose an entirely new song or write a poem about broccoli, and it can do that — because it understands patterns and structures, even though it has no clue what broccoli tastes like.
It’s not alive, it’s not magic, and no, it’s not “thinking” in the way you or I might agonize over ordering fries or salad. It’s just a clever mimic. It chews through mountains of data, picks out patterns, and then assembles new content that looks like it knows what it’s doing. But deep down, it’s like a toddler with a brilliant and adorable paint set, but if you push too hard, it might smear purple everywhere and call it art.
To paraphrase the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: “The limits of AI’s language are the limits of its world.” And its world? Well, it’s built on what we’ve already shown it ;-)
More thought-provoking thoughts:
MINDFUL AI: Reflections on Artificial Intelligence
Thought-Provoking Quotes & Reflections on Artificial Intelligence (🔹Only for a short time, $0.99🔹)
New Book Release (Only for a short time, $0.99): Beyond the Algorithm: An Attempt to Honor the Human Mind in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Wittgenstein Reloaded) (🔹Only for a short time, $0.99🔹)
Deutsche Ausgabe: Jenseits des Algorithmus: Ein Versuch, den menschlichen Geist im Zeitalter der künstlichen Intelligenz zu würdigen (Wittgenstein Reloaded)
